11spd Experiments

I just realized it's not dropping into the granny that's a problem. It's getting back to the middle ring that sucks. When my bike is properly tuned it drops into the granny like a champ - fast and reliably and gets me up those short steep climbs. But following the climb when I'm still moving a bit slowly and want to get back into the wider range of the middle ring for the section of trails that's coming up that sucks.

I love being able to drop to the granny but would consider giving that up if it meant never having to grind back into the big ring afterwards. It would be worth a try.

No riding a 30 x 42 is faster than walking. But on a big big climb with a bunch of riders of varying speed and ability a little walking is just fine.

No riding a 30 x 42 is faster than walking. But on a big big climb with a bunch of riders of varying speed and ability a little walking is just fine.

just like having a granny to mellow spin up a climb is good so I don't ride away from the special lady friend and leave her angry and alone while she stresses about bitey animals surprising her….it makes my life a lot easier sometimes!

I just realized it's not dropping into the granny that's a problem. It's getting back to the middle ring that sucks. When my bike is properly tuned it drops into the granny like a champ - fast and reliably and gets me up those short steep climbs. But following the climb when I'm still moving a bit slowly and want to get back into the wider range of the middle ring for the section of trails that's coming up that sucks.

see, that sounds like bike setup/tuning to me. when i was learning bike mechanics, front derailleurs and canti-lever brakes struck me as the two most difficult "regular" tasks to learn. i was building decent wheels before i got those dialed. there's a lot that goes into getting your front derailleur set up properly: height, lateral angle, chain line, limits, compliance with the rings/# teeth you want to jump, cable tension and alignment all have to be correct

my sister bought a bike last spring to commute to work. after a month she started complaining about bad shifting and noise "down there". i told her to take the bike in to the shop - they'd offered her 2 years free labour - which she did, twice. no improvement. i had a look at the bike and every point i listed above had either been botched or ignored… after the bike had been set up "professionally" initially, and "diagnosed and repaired" twice… if that's the general level of lbs competences wrt front derailleurs no wonder so many riders are itching to ditch them!

anyone order one yet ?? toying with the idea of trying it

see, that sounds like bike setup/tuning to me.

i would agree..der position might be out a bit…

I'm perfectly capable of adjusting a front derailleur but:

I don't want my handlebar looking like it can control the International Space Station.

No front derailleur means one less area to get clogged up with mud.

One can run tyires as wide as will fit in the frame and there's no derailleur cage to rub on the tyre (wider chainlines have largely solved that problem but now riding in the 'middle' ring and large sprocket can feel like crap).

Personally most of my riding is on Fromme so I don't need a granny, and anyway I don't mind walking.

Some people may say that riding with a super low gear is quicker than walking, but I've got long legs…

Using a 30t Raceface NW ring coincidentally significantly reduces the chainline so riding in 1st gear still feels great and solves all the issues above. I wouldn't mind a larger sprocket than a 36 (on a 29er) but not enough to spend a million dollars. I've ridden up enough hills in the last 25 years of mountain biking to not be bothered about getting of and walking if needed. One just gets to use different muscles.

anyone order one yet ?? toying with the idea of trying it

I pre-ordered… they aren't shipping till mid-January.

At least I can adjust my front derailleur.

My current shifting issue is probably chainring related. I replaced the chain and the 24 tooth which was really worn. Then started getting chain suck on the down shift. Bought a new 36 but it made little difference. All I can think of is that a race face big ring and black spire small are not quite compatible. Maybe the 24 is a touch too close to the chain line centre so when the chain drops it is a touch closer to the big ring and hooks a pin on that ring. That said, I had a similar issue when I had new rf rings last year. Matching set and I still had the suckage but only for a few hours of riding than it was all good. I'll keep "breaking in " the new drive train for a while. Next time I need new bits though I'll probably go XX1.

I am flogging my current 10 speed into the ground. I am hoping and praying that a wider range 10 speed cogset will be available by the time this drivetrain is totally dead.

I just realized it's not dropping into the granny that's a problem. It's getting back to the middle ring that sucks. When my bike is properly tuned it drops into the granny like a champ - fast and reliably and gets me up those short steep climbs. But following the climb when I'm still moving a bit slowly and want to get back into the wider range of the middle ring for the section of trails that's coming up that sucks.

I love being able to drop to the granny but would consider giving that up if it meant never having to grind back into the big ring afterwards. It would be worth a try.

shift down in the rear first before you go up on the front. while this may only affect chainline marginally it can be enough to make that front ring shift smooth.

i think it's more important to prioritize the shift from low to high (hard to easy), but of course that's biased on me wanting to clean climbs. ymmv

Currently using a 1 x 10 set up on Carbine with a 30T RF narrow/wide chainring and 11-36 XT cassette. I can clean 90% of the climbs in my area with this combination… but that 42T bail out cog would be oh so handy. I am pretty happy never running a front derailleur ever again on any of my bikes.

I'm in a similar boat: 30T Wolftooth + 11-36 XT. The first few climbs of the season were challenging, but it got better quickly. By the time I was riding HyperV, Project 9, etc. in Fernie on Canada Day, the only thing keeping me from clean rides was the hangover~~. By the time October rolled around, I was used to it.

If I ever got a 700C mtn bike, I'd need that 42T rear to do 1X.~~

2x10 is crap if you ask me. My current rig came with XT 2x10 and i am yet to switch it up but hate it with a passion.

If you have a front derailleur why would you not run a big ring? To save a few hundred grams? My biggest issue (apart from the compromised top gear) is that when you drop your chain it drops into granny…send the genius that came up with this idea back to the fishing division shimano. At least with triples you generally drop the chain into the middle ring.

I am sure 1 x 11 is the way to go but the cost is insanity right now. These cogs may be the answer to allow you to run a large enough chainring on 1x10 to still have fun on the dh.

I just also noticed that SRAM has started an X1 line on their website:
http://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/family/x1

Right now, it only includes the aluminum cranks that come with some OEM X01 setups, but it's entirely conceivable that they have imminent plans to offer a full X1 lineup with an X9-level group.

Anyone know anything?