[Closed] from 3x9 to 1x11... any regrets ?

Hi
No regrets as such but I would say that despite what anyone (including the actual maths) says about gear ratios, very steep climbs are not as easy with 1x11 as they are with granny ring on 3x9!
Or maybe my legs are just too old now 😡
Everything else is better overall I would say.
Cheers
Steve

You'll be fine. Get it done. I do miss the big ring for road bits but you can overcome this simply by buying another bike. 😃

I did the same (x3 to x1)

no regrets at all, just a few things to consider.

took me a while to adjust, I was feeling like the gear I had was either just to low but the next up was just to high.

Clutch mechs need a bit of looking after. I’ve had occasions where the mech didn’t tension the chain in the higher smaller gears. A clean of the internals sorted that out but I wouldn’t say they’re fit and forget.

possibly factor in an oval front ring, I feel it makes a difference for me at least.

How much lower is 22 x 40 compared to 30 x 46?

I have left a granny ring on my chain set and move it down by hand at the bottom of monster climbs.

Whats the cheapest way to go 11 x 46?  Chain reaction comes to £125 for slx shifter, mech sunrace cassette and sram chain.

The only thing I miss is the higher gears for road / fireroad descents. I soon got fitter from climbing with the 32 / 46. Also with 11 speed the cable tension, mech hanger straightness and b-screw tension need to be bang on to get perfect shifting whereas 9 speed was a bit more forgiving to set up right.

If I lived anywhere mountainous with 20 mins + steep climbs however I'd still want a 2 or 3 X setup.

Unless your complete 3x9 drivetrain is absolutely shot, why bother?

Did it for mrs NBT, only regret is we didn't do it sooner, she loves it

I found 1x11 too limiting. Where I live it’s pretty flat and I would only be using the last three sprockets on the rear but when I hit the real mountains the small gears weren’t small enough. I have a di2 set up and have changed to a 2x11 set up and am much happier with it.

Effectively you'll loose one of the bottom and two of the top. If you can live with that it's all good. It took me ages to go over to 1x, not saying its a life changer but there's no reason I'd ever go back.

So from the replies above, 1 X 11 is great, apart from the lack of top end gears, the lack of bottom end gears, the bigger gear intervals and it requires more careful setup and maintenance?

I find it's the really long draggy climbs where I miss a lower gear whereas the shorter, steeper climbs, especially if they are rough or technical, I tend to be in something like 30/32 to give a bit of momentum.

24/36 gives a ratio of 0.66 whereas 32/46 is 0.69 but whether you'd notice the difference is another matter. As for big jumps in ratios, well it's only like being in the middle ring and changing gear and no-one ever moaned about that.

At the top end I've not really noticed any loss - once I'm spinning out on 30/11 (on a 29er) then I'm going as fast as I want/need or am able to sustain for any reasonable length of time.

Despite all that, and me being a 1x fanboi, I'd agree with Noddy - if your current drivetrain is still working OK, why bother?

No regrets from me. The range of gears is less, but I can live with that - on my XC MTB I am only doing technical stuff and I only need a higher gear on a few bits of road descent. Well, they are over in seconds anyway and I am just going to and from the woods so I don't care. Also, with an 11-46 there's a bit of an annoying jump between 37 and 46.

The reason I like it despite that is that M8000 works far better than M970 did. It's lighter, cheaper (to buy), shifts better due to the design of the shifter, and perhaps due to the NW chainring is a fair bit smoother to pedal. I've not needed to do any extra maintenance on the mech yet. I have it set to pretty low tension and everything is peachy. Also no front shifting is nice in some situations. Also no chainsuck. And much easier to clean around the BB.

1x11 is fine. You choose the gear ratio you want, so pick the high or low end to suit. So if you live somewhere very hilly and steep, go for a set of ratios to help. Say a 28 or 32 front ring. Or if its less hilly and you want max top end speed try a 36 or more. Even the cassettes come with a different set of ratios.

Have a look at Sheldons gear calculator to see what you need / uses now then you will be able to make a choice.

I didnt regret it, didnt miss any gears top or bottom. Certainly loved the lack of faff setting up a front mech, loved the simplicity, loved the bar space so my dropper lever was not cramping the set up.

To elaborate slightly - we live on the edge of the peak district. Hills feature heavily in our riding, riding fast does not, so the lack of top end gears doesn't really matter. The lack of bottom end gear would be more of an issue if it really made a difference - but it doesn't. A bigger issue for Mrs NBT is the move to a single shifter, she had a weak thumb on her left hand due to an old injury so the move to 1*11 means no shifter on that hand which is far better. She stil has the dropper lever on that side but that's less critical. We went 1*11 as the 3*9 drivetrain was shot and needed replacing entirely only the shifters were saved, the rest went in the bin

I've also got 1*11 on one of my bikes and I can notice the difference to the 3*9 setup on the other - yes, the 3*9 has both lower and higher gears, but in truth I don't NEED to go that fast so I don't miss the top end, and if gets hurty on the uphills as the gears aren't low enough, well it just helps me get fitter.

Worth noting that my 1*11 is SRAM so it only goes to a 42 cassette, whereas for Mrs NBT we went for a Shimano setup with Sunrace cassette so it goes to 46 - I think you can even get bigger that that

I have 2x9 and 3x9 on most of my bikes (26 inchers). I have one 27.5er with 2x11, 26-36 up front and 11-40 on the back. When I first put it together, I ran it as a 1x11 with a 32 ring up front. It was ok, but I tended to spin out on the flat so I put a 36 up front. That was ok when I was feeling energetic, but it's nice having the granny ring up front. I had all the new bits in a box ready to fit, I was just too lazy to put it together, but the 2x11 works well. Probably, an 11-46 would be fine with a 32 up front, but it's nice having the bigger ring for cruising on the flat.

but 1 x 11 looks cooler but not as cool as 1 x 12

I would also add that M8000 2x11 will be better than older 3x9, in my view.

And that 32/11 and even 30/11 are fine for cruising on the flat, for me, it only gets spinny when it starts to go downhill on road.

@kcr - there aren't bigger gear intervals in most cases. As I noted, it's only like being in the middle ring on a triple and no-one ever complained about the jumps with that. In fact on a 2x or 3x if you wanted to religiously go up or down the gears according to the ratios you'd be doing at least two shifts for every actual gear change and in some cases four!

When I went 1x it was from 3x9 on 26" to 1x10 on 29" and I lost three ratios overall. That was before wide range cassettes were widely available so it was 11-36 cassette with one cog, usually the 16T removed and a 40T extender stuck on at the bottom end.

Generally if I can't get up a climb on the 1x then it's more than likely I wouldn't have been able to get up it on the 3x either.

I'm not sure 1x is harder to setup, at least not because of it being 1x. I remember 10spd drivetrains having a reputation for sensitivity in setup and that reputation has simply moved along with the increase in cassette size so that now everyone talks about how careful you have to be with setting up Sram Eagle etc.

I still have 3x9 on my Swift. I use it almost solely for bikepacking and I like the wider range of gears for the variety of terrain I cover (including road miles). I do like the simplicity of 1x11 though, especially when I’m trying to coax the Swift into granny with a tap of the foot 🙄.

. Also, with an 11-46 there’s a bit of an annoying jump between 37 and 46.

The suntour mx8 has a much more freindly 40 to 46 jump.

I am still 2x on my bikes as this is how they came and happy with them and see no need to change. That said i want to try 1x to see how i go (30t with 11-42 would cover what i need using the calculator) but i cant help feeling 1x chainlines are not best. I was brought up in 3x days and told time and again not to use big/big small/small cogs etc and with 1x i will spend too long in the gears at top or bottom when the chain should be in the middle of the cassette?

I went 1 times on the front as I'd always pick up a little bit of grit that would settle on the front mech and stop it working.

It also stops mud jamming everything up down there.

Never missed the big ring but I will always want a lower gear.

I swapped to 1x11 some years ago right when XT M8000 came out. I was deep into bikepacking back then and was very hesitant to make the move. The general opinion in the "scene" was that 3x9 or 2/3x10 was still the way to go and 11 or 12spd transmissions were made of a cheese and glass alloy.

I've found that yes, you really need to be more careful with the initial setup of a 1x11/12 drivetrain, but once properly dialed it's much more set and forget and durable in real world offroad conditions. The whole bike becomes more reliable, easy to use and predictable.

Regarding gearing range, don't overthink it. You'll notice some differences in the range extremes in the first couple of rides, but then you'll get used to it quickly. We are much more adaptable than we think. I'll trade a 17 gear inch bottom gear for a 1x drivetrain with a 20 inch gear everyday

Depends on your riding - if you use your big ring a lot then you're not going to be able to reach the same speeds on flat smooth trails, road bits etc, which personally would frustrate me. Other issue is the cost - 9 speed bits can be picked up dirt cheap in sales etc. If you stay in middle most of the time, and have the cash to spare (and no other upgrades on the bike would improve the performance more - new forks/wheels/tyres etc) then go for it.

I found 1x11 super easy to set up. It seems to work with a wide range of cable adjustments too - not at all fussy. And of course, you've only got one mech to set up rather than two, and it's the easier one.

The cost of cassettes is higher - but anecdotally they last longer. I can't confirm or deny this personally. But it makes a bit of sense in theory - for me the sprockets that wear out on 3x9 are usually in the middle to small - because I spend most of the time using them to keep a good chainline and they are smaller. On 1x I use all the sprockets, and much of the time on climbs is spent on much bigger sprockets, which last longer. I mean, it's plausible, but I just don't know yet.

Depends how often you use your easiest gear and the two or three biggest.

http://ritzelrechner.de/

This allows you to work out what you'll be losing. 30 oval roughly gets you your easiest gear back on an 11-46.

Do oval rings give you a different ratio for the same size?

I mean, with say 32T oval the amount of torque generated as you pedal might be the same as a 30T round, however the total amount of chain pulled per revolution would be the same as a 32T round. To my mind this means that you could get the same torque as a 30T when winching up a climb and the same speed as a 32T when spinning out - no?

Well 30T round gives you exactly the same ratios (assuming the same cassette) as 32T oval. The oval chainring simply aims to smooth out the power transfer.

I went SRAM NX 1x11 a couple of years ago. As cheap as possible on a parts bin build.

Been faultless.

I'm in mid-Wales so some big draggy climbs. Just get yer head down and grunt it out. Not had to walk anything that I wouldn't have previously walked.

I'm 32T Oval Narrow/Wide front ring with 42T rear.

That suggestion of SLX and Sunrace from Zippykona for £125 is a bargain. Might even get one to put on the wife's bike.

I was brought up in 3x days and told time and again not to use big/big small/small cogs etc and with 1x i will spend too long in the gears at top or bottom when the chain should be in the middle of the cassette?

your one ring is in the position of the middle ring with the triple. did you use that with the whole cassette? If so then it will be no worse. (and actually better due to thinner, more flexible chain)

a 32 front 40something rear is going to put less wear on the chain and teeth than 22 front 30whatever rear gives the same ratio in your hill crawling gear

32 front 11 rear will get you north of 20mph, if you still want to be pedalling above this you are definitely an outlier

if your current drivetrain is still working OK, why bother?

1. In my case because I'm too fundamentally stupid to bother changing gears up front, so mostly I ride in the middle ring anyway, so effectively I'm actually riding 32 x 11/34, which is okay-ish.

2. I could replace the fiddly little Thomson dropper lever with something more like a front shifter paddle.

3. I might save a crucial 50g or so on my overall bike weight.

4. That's about it really.

I was brought up in 3x days and told time and again not to use big/big small/small cogs etc and with 1x i will spend too long in the gears at top or bottom when the chain should be in the middle of the cassette?

Turns out that it doesn't really matter that much - at least not with a narrower 1x chain. There's none of that noise you get when cross chaining on 3x9. I did have to adjust the chain line quite a bit though, but then I am using bodged 3x cranks so I needed spacers anyway.

2. I could replace the fiddly little Thomson dropper lever with something more like a front shifter paddle.

This was a key factor for me, I wanted a decent lever. I hate the front mech compatible lever on my other 2x bike.

3. I might save a crucial 50g or so on my overall bike weight.

I saved 300g on my XC bike going from 3x9 M970 to 1x11 M8000 - that's with keeping the same cranks.

Try 1x9, see if you like it. I believe sunrace do a 9speed 11-40 cassette.

1x is great for most things but I've gone back to a 26/38 - 11/42 2x set up on my bikepacking/long distance bike (but not my trail bikes). I'm reasonably strong but never regret having a low gear for steep climbs on a loaded bike, and the 38 is good for road spinning.

1x9 is no way the same as 1x11 though because the bottom gear is nowhere near the same. I ran 1x9 for a while and it was bastard hard work.

Like ianpv I think I could do with more gears for my adventure bike. It's still on 3x9.

I don't regret it, but as my climbing ability has been effected by my heart condition (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!) - I wish I had (and will do soon) gone for a 11-46 cassette, rather than a 42. A few years back and I'd've coped just fine, but now climbs are pretty painful. I rode my 2X hardtail the other week and it was much nicer to climb with a granny ring.

No regrets at all. I’m not sure I knew how to use 3x properly to be honest, far too confusing.

I went 3x9 to 1x11 11-46 on a 26er

Was fine, much simpler and more gears in reality as before I wouldn't faff much with the front shifter. Very rarely I would miss a big gear for long road/gravel road downhill.

Now gone 12 speed GX 10-50 on a 29er and I don't think I've used the 10 much if at all, so i could probably drop a couple of chainring teeth for the riding I do.

I like. It's simple. It's light. It works.

It just doesn't have the gear spread of 2x though.

This is an issue a few times a year on long (Highland) climbs when I want one lower gear.

It's an issue a every third or fourth ride when I want one more higher gear. This is less of an issue for me than the low gear though. I just roll with it.

Overall, I wouldn't go back to 2x unless on a tour.

I don't regret going 1x11, you just need to be aware that you will not quite have all the gears you had before, so think about the riding you do and figure out which 2-3 gears you can do without the easiest, either top end speed or low end climbing.

The weight loss I don't notice, but I was glad to not have to declog a front mech any more