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I currently 1x11, 32 ring 11-40 cassette and it would appear that I am using the 40t sprocket excessively.
The time is coming for a new drivetrain and I think I will have Shimano 1x12, given the above what ring and cassette would you suggest?
28t, 10/51
26:34 and 11-40
same cassette. E8000 ring 😉
28? Seems mighty low but looking at the ratios I can see the sense cos of the massive range.
Trail Rat - It will be 1x again
Geex - You over-estimate my thighs
XTR 12 speed won't be cheap. Best off just buying a wider range 11 speed cassette from Shimano/Sunrace/Gararuk and see how you like it first.
Agreed, if you’re fine with full XTR build costs then have at it by all means, but if I were a Shimano person (I’m not) I’d be looking at keeping my existing drivetrain running until XT 12sp was available (MY 2020 I assume).
28? Seems mighty low
It's about the same top gear as you have now.
10-42?
I would just change the cassette to a 10:50 or 11:50. Its what I did, bought the sunrace one and been really pleased with it so far
Why not just stick a 30T chainring on and see how it goes?
Hardtail or fs? Fs pedaling efficiency is altered radically by chainring size
30 x 11-46
When you say excessively is that because given a choice you would drop another gear at times? If not I'd be tempted to carry on as you are. If you change ratios around you will just be using another sprocket in the block 'excessively'. If it is that you need lower gears I too would be tempted to just change your chain ring to a 30 in the first instance and see how it feels. The equivalent would (roughly) be the keeping your current chain ring and having a cassette with a 43T largest sprocket.
You over-estimate my thighs
Not sure how.
Here's is an E8000 chainring in it's natural habitat 😉
Generally with a 1x setup you should be doing most of your riding in the middle of the block so for your 11spd (1st gear being the largest cog, top gear being the smallest) you should be using gears 3-9 the most then 2 & 10 with 1 & 11 being used only occasionally. I might only use the 1 & 11 gears for a couple of minutes in a ride lasting several hours for example.
If your usage is skewed from this (ideal) then either your gearing doesn't match your rides or your fitness doesn't match your gearing - the two are sort of related. As @convert says it does sort of depend why you are using the lowest gear "excessively". If your lowest gear is still too hard then you need to either fit a smaller chainring to shift the whole block "down" or a cassette with a lower bottom gear. If it happens that your pedalling just happens to match/prefer 32:40 then a new cassette or drivetrain will simply mean you use the cog that most closely matches that.
When I went 1x it was before wide range cassettes were (widely) available so it was the 11-36 with 40T extender route along with a 30T chainring. I found it tough at first, there's some steepish hills around here (Dales), but after about 3 months I'd got stronger and found I didn't use the bottom 2 gears as much. Nowadays if I can't get up a climb it's not usually the gearing but the technicalities of the terrain that will stop me. Two or three lower ratios wouldn't help.
@whitestone, surely your opening statement is more about where you should ride than how, or what chainring you should choose? If your trails are either flat or steep, the ends of your cassette are going to get a bashing.
@greyspoke - you are putting the cart before the horse! You match your gearing to your riding not the other way round. If you ride somewhere flat then you fit an appropriate sized chainring to keep you in the middle of the block -assuming your frame will take it of course. Similarly for steep terrain.
But what if you have flats and steeps and not much else? You need a big gear for the flats and you need an easy gear for the steeps. But you have no need for an easier gear than your steeps gear, nor for a harder gear than your flats gear (because the downhills are steep as well, so pedalling downhill is a rarity). Sticking more gears outside of those two (even if this were possible) just so you could be in the middle of your cassette would be pointless.
ETA flats and steeps in the same ride I mean.
Well I've flats and steeps in my rides and it's manageable, it's a compromise but then all practical gearing is. Using edge cases to disprove general points is short sighted 😉 (because the smilies are broken) 11-42 is a 380% range and 11-46 is a 420% range which is decent, an Alfine 11spd IGH is 405% and a Rohloff IGH is 525%
28 and 10-42 works fine For me. Gearing is there to assist you so why make it more difficult than it needs to be. It’s very uppy and downy where I ride so the full extent of the gear range gets used. I don’t buy into this chain line stuff. Cross chaining doesn’t seem to cause me any issues in my mtb it my road bike. Ride the gear you need to ride. If you’re a pro and tou’re Worried about a few watts of mechanical losses then fair enough, but let’s face it.....none of us are.
@whitestone the point was, if you have only flats and steeps your initial statement about being generally in the middle of the block is not going to be so. On average you will be in 5th, though in reality you will rarely use that gear.
E thirteen 9-46T, 28T ring.