[Closed] Gravel bike gear ratio

Norfolk or the Lake District?

It's a personal choice dependent on the amount of climbing you do.

For my local short sharp winch ups I find 40t chainring with an 11/42 cassette works for me.

I'd be 1:1 in the lowest gear as a minimum.

If you have the ability to run a 10t on the cassette it'll open up the range considerably.

not really, you can get the same wide range cassettes as you can for any mountain bike, and a bit of freedom on your chainring size. I've got 38T x 11-36 on my monstercommutercrosstype bike

I'd want at least one sprocket bigger than the chainring for 1x gravel, if not two.

You'll be fine with 1x for most stuff but for proper, loaded touring that's anywhere even vaguely hilly I'd want a granny ring as a bail out. Invaluable at the end of a long day in the saddle.

I think a 10 42 would be ok but if its hilly i'd want a smallish front ring. Like 36 so your one gear less than 1:1

Fyi my bike 40 28 up front 36 11 at the back. This works well for me. So 2 gears under 1:1.

Cheers guys, think my aim is to ride from home all the way down Wales and back up Ireland and home so maybe a bit ambitious for 1x even if I have a monster 50 tooth on the back if that's possible.

My bike has 48,32 at front with 11-34 at back. For loaded bike packing such as a trip on Dartmoor, which is pretty hilly, it was fine but something a bit easier would have been nice. Having said that considering the bikes multi use nature that gearing works well overall.

11-42 X 38 should give you all the low down grunt you need, that's what I run.

I've got 40x11-51 on mind just because I thought I'd try and see if it worked without mods and it does! I had 40x11-45 and that was fine tbh

I ran 42*11-42 (1:1) which was a bit hard for steep off-road climbs, especially when laden for bike packing.

It's now 38*11-42 which feels like it will get up most stuff. Going for freehub that will take a 10t increases the overall range quite a bit if you are worried about spinning out

38-17 is pretty much perfect

Usefull insights. Have a gravel bike on the way and was thinking about going to 1x. 40:10-42 was my thinking for double duty road/gravelcross.. biggest ring I can get for the mega light 76mm abs cranks I have is 36t though 🙁

Most of the time I run 42 front with 10-42 cassette, then switch to a 38 front when I go to the mountains for credit card bikepacking.
A couple of friends just got bikes with 2x GRX and I am thinking about switching to that.

I've just come back from the way of the roses c2c using a gravel bike and grx 2x (48/31 x 11-34).
Some bits of that were pretty hilly, and with a couple of panniers on the bike there were a few times I'd have loved an easier gear (or two!). That said, it was all doable.

I'm also 2x, lowest gear is 31-34.

For long days carrying overnight kit (not bivvy gear, credit card touring!) that's probably low enough, but I'd still happily consider lower...

I think when traction is limited by loose or steep surfaces and skinny slick tyres, having a low gear you can just tap away in is invaluable!

Mine came stock with a 34-50 up front and 11-36 out back. That’s fine on roads where you can stand up if it gets too steep without losing traction, but I’d prefer lower for off road climbs. We have a fair few climbs that are steep with loose rocks round here, so they suit sitting down and spinning a small gear.

I’m thinking of going GRX 31-48 up front and trying 11-40 out back as the ultegra mech can apparently handle it. A bottom gear of 31x40 sounds low but it’s still a fair bit higher than the 30x50 bottom gear that I have on the MTB and that gets a fair bit of use.

Just gone 2x.

50/34 on the front and 11-40T on the rear. Standard Ultegra mech. Works fine. I like having the range so I can be off-road, on-road, naked or laden. Only slight issue is that there's a bit of chain slap when the mech is at the extreme/loose end. Thinking of a clutch mech to see if that improves things at all.

I just dont see the point of a 1X for a genuine do it all bike.

But of a thread hijack, but I'm currently running 42x11-40T and am looking to go wider range at the back. The obvious choice is 11-46 but I don't fancy the big 37-46 jump in the bottom two gears on the Shimano cassettes.

Are there better options? Rocketdog - you still happy with how 11-51 works with GRX?

Rocketdog – you still happy with how 11-51 works with GRX?

Yep, not taken it off yet, the final ratios are 39-45-51 which is much better than 38- 46 on the other cassette. It's no featherweight though

I just dont see the point of a 1X for a genuine do it all bike.

With the exception of scotroutes, all the 2x setups quoted on this thread don't have an easier lowest gear than the 1x users.

And for a do it all bike running tyres for all round riding and a more upright position than a fast road bike, are there many riders that would truly spin out their top gear on the flat regularly enough to be an issue? It's not as if the average rider would be changing their tyres from Saturday gravel riding to a slicks for fast road riding on Sunday and trying to keep up with proper road bikes.

I'd rather have the extra mud clearance so the chain doesn't wipe all the mud off the tyre sidewall

I'd probably have gone super-compact but 105 was cheap, and available in silver 😁

One other thing - we don't all pedal with the same cadence. Gear calculators that assume 120rpm are of little use to me.

I have settled with a CX 46-36 chainset and change the wheels to suit what I am planning.All the wheels have a matched chain and cassette.I have a goat link for the set with the big cassette.
Works for me.

@Scotroutes I've got a similar setup to yours with a compact double. I've been running the Ultegra RX clutch for a couple of years. Great mech. Works a treat.

I live in the same area as Qwerty.

2x11, 50/34 chainset and 11/34 cassette

No loaded touring or bike packing though.

I get up the same hills he does but not all ways as fast.

And for a do it all bike running tyres for all round riding and a more upright position than a fast road bike, are there many riders that would truly spin out their top gear on the flat regularly enough to be an issue? It’s not as if the average rider would be changing their tyres from Saturday gravel riding to a slicks for fast road riding on Sunday and trying to keep up with proper road bikes.

Fair enough it might not be how you want to do it but for me a bike that is used as a winter roadie, summer gravel bike, sometime bike packing bike, sometime credit card tourer, has done a few summer cross races and I commute on it too. A double works best to give the range I want.

@rumbledethumps thank you. I'll get one ordered.

I ride 38 on the front as that was the smallest ring that would fit on my carbon SRAM red road cranks (£50 bling). On the back I run 10 speed 12-32 for off-road duties and 11-33 On road. If you are going touring with luggage, you’ll want bigger than a 32, as mentioned above. But 38T is fine for narrow wide.

From what I've read in here, I'd probably choose the GRX 31/48 chainset with an 11-34 cassette (I've had the latter fitted on my road bike for a few months and it's great for climbing options), to make the biggest tooth jump 30T to 34T.

The 11-34 does have the negative of 2T jumps at the high end (11/13/15/17/19/21/23/25/27/30/34), but as someone who rarely goes mad on the flat and downhill, I can live with that compromise for the sake of having ~15 viable climbing gear combos.

I’ve been through this recently whilst building up a Sonder Camino that will be used for everything from normal road riding to backpacking and also off-road in hilly and flat terrain. I came to the conclusion that 2x was the only way to get a sufficient spread of ratios despite being a 1x convert for MTB. In the end I went for GRX with 48/31 and a 11-34 cassette as, with 700x40 tyres, it gives me a lower gear than a 40x10 and a 120” top gear the same as my road bike running a 50x11. Im glad I went this way as on the road I find I’m regularly in the top 3 gears, especially if there is any slight downward gradient, a tail wind or I am riding with others. With 1x I would be either pedalling like crazy or spinning out or losing the low end by having a bigger chainring. The low end is good too and I can easily pop on a wider cassette (e.g. 11-40) if I really needed lower. Pros and cons to both, but if you want the high gear for unladen on the road then I believe 2x is better, if you’re not bothered by that then 1x is fine and great for all the same reasons as it is on an MTB. Good luck with the build.

I find 60" is a good compromise.