[Closed] Gearing quetion on 1 x 11

If you do a lot of road sections you’ll spin the 32/11 combo out really easily.

What you need to do is go onto Sheldon brown’s gear calculator and see how 34/46 compares to the low gears you have now. Do you use 24/36 a lot for example?

What you need to do is go onto Sheldon brown’s gear calculator and see how 34/46 compares to the low gears you have now.

^^^beaten to it...this is advice i was going to give; have a play around on Sheldons gear calc

You'll lose gears at the bottom and top end whichever one of those chainrings you go with. If speed on the road is key to you then go with a larger one, if you do lots of climbing ten you may be better off with a smaller one. If both are important then stick with the triple or go with a double.

My first mountain bike (well, the first I started considering gears on) was 12-28 and 28-38-48.

So that would be similar to the cassette you mention with a 44/46 chain ring.

What's more important to you, climbing gear or spinning along the road gears?

I don't think 1x 11 is going to give you a big enough gear range . I would go 1x12 with a 10-50 cassette or go to a 2x10 or 2x11 which will give you a good range of gears and be better than 3x9 .

I run an 11-50 Sunrace cassette with a standard Shimano XT derailleur. No extras required and no trickier to set up than the 11-42 it replaced. Iirc the Shimano cassettes have big gaps in the low gears.

If you go for a cassette with a small cog of 10T then you'll also need a new freehub as it's highly unlikely to fit your current one. Depending on the make of your existing hub it might mean a simple replacement or a new hub and rebuild or a new wheel.

I went from the old "standard" 3x9 on a 26" wheeled bike to 1x10 on a 29er and lost a total of three ratios, in my case I went for one at the bottom end and two at the top. This was before wide range cassettes so it was standard cassette plus extender cog. I'll use either a 30T or a 32T chainring.

It took a few months to get completely comfortable with the "lack" of gears but now it's rare that I use the lowest gear (or the highest). Most of my riding is in the Dales so there's a mix of fast tracks, big hills and roads. I'll spin out on the road at about 40kmh but it's not something I can sustain for ten or fifteen minutes so it's not really a problem. By the time I'm running out of gears at the bottom end I'm on terrain that I'd be walking no matter what gearing I used.

Spinning out on the road isn't ever a consideration for me on a mountain bike.

If it is, buy a gravel bike.

http://ritzelrechner.de/

Allows you to compare two setups side by side.

You'll need 32 to get within touching distance of your easiest gear, and you'll lose a couple of gears for higher speed riding even with a 34, so it depends which compromise you think you can make.

OP what size wheels do you run? I had a 29er converted a few years ago and ran 10 speed with a 30tooth chainring and a 11-40 cassette, didnt have any issues at the time. I have a diff 29er now and run 28tooth chainring with a 10-42 cassette.

The new 29er is heavier than the last and when being lazy the 42 gets more use than it should. I do feel occasionally when at bike parks like I could do with a higher/harder gear but the high speeds of bike parks dont reflect the terrain I ride regular.

What about 2×9 34-50 +11-40...converted a cx comp as a daily runner(with sunrace 11-40 9 speed casette.. only added a few links in the chain.. Its slightly too short(only a smudge) haven't had problems going fast and no hill it can't get up..

Downdsides are gappy gears and 34-11 feels like 50-40..so not such a large gap in chainrings..

No chain dropping but good gear range..and really cheap.. Cost less then £100. Took 1 hour to install.