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Thinking of ditching the front mech on my winter bike (which I’ve spent most of the morning cleaning and fettling now spring is here).
Currently got a 5800 105 rear mech, I assume I can slap on a narrow wide front ring and a new chain and that’s it? Any horror stories of this kind of thing for road riding?
Hills aren’t too big an issue- I avoid them generally and live in a flattish area.
It's what I did. 105 rear mech, SLX crank and ring.
Perfect for me in the north Cotswolds, although I think it's got a 34 or 36 on the front and I could do with a higher top gear (11-36 I think)
I do miss the small gear steps sometimes, but I'm not a serious roadie, and it's worth it for the silence and ability to just go wherever without dropping the chain or suffering chainsuck.
I did that with ultegra on my CX bike. It worked well. Think it was a 34 with 11:28 on the back. What size front ring depends on your riding. For relatively flat road I would have thought something around a 44?
You might have fun with chainline. It's a bit of a compromise so can make a noise at the extremes.
Make sure the chain is as short as it can be as it will help prevent it coming off.
Just about to do this on my daughters road/gravel bike. 38t upfront 11-36 on the back. Should suit her perfectly and it will keep it simple for her.
Did it with my Croix de Fer. Slightly bigger steps between gears but if you aren't riding in a group then it's of no real concern. Just find the hardest hill local to you and figure out what gear ratio you need to climb it then work out what chainring and cassette will give you that. There'll be some compromise in terms of range but for a winter/commuter bike you are unlikely to want the full range of a typical road groupset.
Not exactly ghetto, but I run GRX 1x11 on my gravel / commute bike. At 38t x 11-42, the range is plenty. I could easily run a 40 or 42t front and would change it if I was doing a lot of flat efforts. Assume with 105 you’ll max out at 11-32 range but if you choose a sensible front sprocket it’ll be fine (and the steps won’t be big).