[Closed] Please help me with Gravel gearing

TBH, any advice given might be irrelevant to you. Some folk are happy to pedal at 100rpm and so don't see any need for higher gears. Some prefer to mash and, especially carrying luggage, want as low a gear as humanly possible.

FWIW I think 1x is a mistake. Just wouldn't work for me. I'm using 11-40 and 50/34.

That's the ratio I have on my Free Ranger. On the road I don't like it. I miss the 2nd chain ring. Uphill I don't have the right gear. Downhill it's not fast enough. Offroad it's fine but I spend most of my time commuting to and from work on the road.

id go bigger than 40 on the rear if using it on hills especially loaded for bike packing, i run a 40 up front and a 11-51 cassette, not often on that 51 but after a long day with climbs to go its come in hand to sit and spin on. you could also go 11-46 but the last three biggest sprockets on that have bigger jumps than the 11-51. a deore 11-51 is only around £65 if you shop around too. ive had it on 3 bikes without a mech extender and one has run for over 18 months without issue or premature chain wear.

2x is fine if you ride on the road with others a lot and you want smaller changes in ratio/cadence. i ride the tarmac to get to the fun bits so i'd never have 2x personally, the range of the 1x covers everything and 40-11 is fast enough for me on the boring road bits

whats the geometry on the Dolan like? their "grav" bike just used to be their CX bike repurposed and so came with poor tyre clearance and steep geometry for tight twisty grass CX courses, not so much fun off road with luggage attached

I tend to spin quite slowly and push bigger gears than I should. I am at opposite ends of the spectrum to Chris Froome (in so many ways)

I haven't worked out what 1x brings to a bike like this.

Agree and disagree with the above post.

Agree that it's hard to pick gear ratios for someone else.

Disagree about 1x. I played with the numbers and realised that 11-34 with the 31,48 chainset would see me constantly swapping chainrings. 1x puts me nicely in the middle for most of what I do.

Currently on 3x9

I'd go for a 2x11 set up if you are going to be doing much road riding.
The larger chain ring up front gives you a higher top end. Spinning out on a road ride is very frustrating.

IFWIW I think 1x is a mistake. Just wouldn’t work for me.

When I built up my CX bike (which is my defacto CX / gravel / winter road / do everything bike), 1x was very much in its infancy but the reason I went 2x was the option to be in big/big(ish) combination running into a hill and then be able to knock it into the granny ring rather than bang-bang-bang-bang up 8 gears at the back.

So far I haven't felt the need to go 1x. Like scotroutes, I can't see it working well [b]for me[/b] around here as I'm in the big ring on almost all of the road / towpath bits of my riding unless it really is a steep climb.

That said, I would go for lower than a 1:1 ratio if as you say you live in a hilly area. 38 or 36 chainring for a 40T cassette. Or stick with the 40T chainring but get a cassette up to 42 or 44.

I'm running 40 & 11/42 on the rear, so pretty close to the op's spec. I find it a good compromise between reliability and spread. I like the sub 1:1 40/42 ratio for the stupid steep stuff around me and really don't miss the top end - I honestly rarely spin out as most of the hills around me are short and if I'm doing over 30mph I generally don't carry on cranking and coaster anyway.

The last road bike I had was 2x and tbh I don't really miss it on the road. But then I am about to fit a dropper.

TBH, any advice given might be irrelevant to you. Some folk are happy to pedal at 100rpm and so don’t see any need for higher gears. Some prefer to mash and, especially carrying luggage, want as low a gear as humanly possible.

FWIW I think 1x is a mistake. Just wouldn’t work for me. I’m using 11-40 and 50/34.

Very much this. It’s very personal

FYI my gravel bike is 38 26 up front and 36 11 at the back. But I’m heavy and spiny

On a rigid bike the only benefit I see from 1x is if it lets them do something very clever with chain stsy length and tyre clearance. It’s not like an FS bike where you’re trying to fit in a pivot and avoid having to allow for the chain tension in different places

I'm running 2x11 48/33 with 11/34 cassette at the back. Ideally, I could do with a lower lowest gear. I don't really do long road rides, and very rarely spin out at the top.

I'm considering changing to 1x11, rear mech needs replacing as does the inner chainring, and I'm getting a lot of chainsuck. Am hoping an 11/46 cassette with something like a 42t chainring will give a good enough spread for most of the riding I do.

My CX bike used for gravel-ish stuff is 1x 40 & 11-42 and I find that spot on

It came with 38 & 11-42 on it, and the (quite expensive) change to longer cage mech + new cassette and chainring made surprisingly little difference to home it feels.

I'm running 1x11 (40F, 11-42R) on my road bike. I really like it - everything's hills here on SW Wales, so I'm either in a high or low gear most of the time, not hunting for the perfect cadence on the flat. And I'm happy with a wide range of cadence, too, so I don't worry about the gaps much.

When I had a triple before, when I concentrated on how I used the gears before buying a 1x, I found I used it much the same way - I only changed the front when I needed a big change, otherwise I tended to stay on the front ring I was in at the time.

I enjoy the simplicity of the whole thing - just change up or down as required, no worries about where you are on the front (and the front never drops, either 🙂 ). The range is just one gear inch longer at the bottom end than my old triple, and I spin out at about 43mph/130rpm with the help of a decent downhill, which is enough for me.

But I completely get that it will not suit a lot of people's usage - if you've got plenty of flat roads about and/or a narrow range of preferred cadence, then it may well not be for you.

I would say that 1:1 gearing is fine for unladen use on road, but for off-road with gear, you’ll probably want lower. I always err on the side of having lower gears because at the end of a long day in the saddle, you can never have too low a gear when confronted with 1km of rough track at 20%. Also, on rougher tracks it’s hard to ‘muscle’ a big gear out the saddle when you’re struggling with grip - you need to stay seated to get rear wheel traction.

I'm torn.

Have been happily riding around locally with a 38 x 11-40 setup on the gravel bike, but for big days with long or steep climbs I'd want 2x again.

I have the parts sitting on a shelf for me next build (just waiting for the frame) and I'll going 46/30 up front with 11-34 out back. I would happily have gone 11-36 or even 12-36 out back but already had the 11-34 cassette, and 11 or 12-36 aren't easy to find.

They're such versatile bikes it seems a shame to hamstring them by reducing gear options (or, *shudder* fitting a dinner plate cassette to them) but if your local terrain and trails are smooth enough maybe a 1x setup is all you'll need.

Hard to know unless you try it, I'd go 2x as at least it's cheaper converting back to 1x than the other way round...

I reckon 40-40 will be a perfectly fine bottom gear, as long as you’re not riding hilly terrain, or heavily loaded.
In ye olden days, bottom gear for a road bike was 42-23, and we managed mostly fine.
My gravel bike has 40-42 bottom, and i can manage moderate gradients even loaded up. I’m really unfit, so unless you’re even worse than me, you’ll probably be reet.
Before i got the bike, i was a total sceptic re 1x. Now I reckon it has its place, just not on every bike.
Edited.

Where do you ride and what is your back ground? An older roadie will be used to something different to a MTB newbie. (they all are as MTBing is new:)) What do you call gravel? To me it's Forestry roads or smoothish single track. Fist size rocks are not gravel.
Unloaded I find that less than 1:1 is fine with 35 mm tyes , so a 34 inner ring and 32 big sprocket. Thats ok for 25% hills unloaded but not touring loaded. Remember steep hills are short hills in the UK. Slightly under geared for my commute with a couple of 20% ramps of road.
1x is very gappy. Not an issue if you are the above MTBer who knows nothing else but it is horrid if brought up TTing on a 13-17 block.
Do you twiddle or push?
I am a fat and aching 58 year old and I get by happily enough.

I found 42-40 a bit hard when I bought my Planet X Tempest. Ended up sticking an 11-46 on the back and the (rival) mech was fine with that. We were gearing (doh) up for the Welsh C2C so were loaded with 5 days worth of gear (not camping). I didn't get off and push once but it was close a few times!

Now on my digger, I have 40-42 and I'd like a few more at the back for the King Alfred's way in a few weeks if the trail parts are wet. That's on 650b wheels but 47mm tyres.

I did try the tempest on a 38T oval (I like ovals on the MTB) but it was very spinny and I changed it back pretty quickly.

I'm reasonably fit, tend to use low cadence and ride A LOT of steep hills but they tend to be quite short.

I would say that 1:1 gearing is fine for unladen use on road, but for off-road with gear, you’ll probably want lower.

Yep. I have a 1:1 lowest gear on my gravel bikes which is hard work bikepacking off road.

For me the ideal would be 1x but with wide range cassette ie 50t. Not sure what gravel setup offers that by default. Some might mean using mtb cassette or some bodging?

I was 40 front and 10-42 rear and as some above highlight found it lacking at low end for super steep and fully loaded climbing.

Changed to 50/34 front. On plus side have got lower gearing. Downsides. Lots of gear overlap and so used to 1x that going back to 2x seems such a backward step. Also really struggle with rear mech setup. Chain and mech really don’t seem to like wide range cassette and the double setup - I either have a slack chain and poor rear mech response or too to tight a chain and can’t use full range of gears.

38 with 11-42 here, GRX (it'll do 11-42 easy) on a Sonder Camino.

Enough for me. Low enough that I can stand and honk up most short sharp off road climbs, which the gravel bike lends to rather than spinning sat down like an MTB.

Yet with fast legs I can roll along at high-teens-mph and on a gravel bike with 50mm tyres (and I'm 99% likely to be solo) that's plenty for me.

I'll only ever be going at 'road bike speeds', 20 plus mph, when going downhill at which point I'll be resting my legs!

40t ring and 10-42 cassette here (although on 650x47 rather than 700 wheels and tyres.

It’s fine for me for general mucking around in the Peaks stuff. Not fussed about ultimate speed on road, as I have a road bike for that and the limit for climbing won’t be gears, it’ll be traction.

I managed the Badger Divide on it last summer too. Had to dig pretty deep on the Correyairack but rode it all, so (lightish) bike packing isn’t out of the question either. If I was doing TNR or similar I’d be looking to go a chunk lower though. Still unlikely to go 2x mind…

Fist size rocks are not gravel

Fist size rocks is when gravel gets properly fun!!

1:1 ratio for the lowest gear is a roadie thing, any sort of offroad needs lower IMO.

SRAM Rival AXS with GX Eagle cassette & AXS mech isn't far off GRX in price, but a lot more range

I’m currently planning for the dirty reiver. Currently running 1x 42 and 11-46 at the back, it’s grx. On an old van nic Amazon tourer (that has magically morphed into an on trend gravel bike). It seems fine and good for commuting, but on steep hills I think having a little bit lower will be better, especially so at the end of 200km. I’ve just ordered a 38t chainring. Hopefully I won’t be spinning out too often. Suspect 40 at the front might be the sweet spot for me, but thought better to err on the side of lower end for the reiver.

On an old van nic Amazon tourer (that has magically morphed into an on trend gravel bike).

Aye. Funny how that happens...

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I did the badger on my MTB last year and was very glad of the 50t granny on the Correyairack!

I had a frame like yours but got an updated one when the chainstay cracked a few years back…

2x here too, same as Scotroutes - 50/34 and 11-40, great range for hilly, laden bike packing. Also means I can just switch wheelset for when I head out on road rides and still have a 2x up front.

1x here... and inclined to agree with those who say it's a mistake 🙂

I want lower than 1:1 for climbing, which means either compromising on top speed, or gaps between gears. I don't think I'm particularly fussy on cadence, but with an 11-46 11 speed cassette I do sometimes find myself stuck between gears when spinning along on the road.

And the business of jumping down the cassette when you back pedal in bottom gear is boring too.

Perfectly happy with 1x for MTB and CX racing where I'm less fussed about top end and gaps.

On my old 2x gravel / commuter I was always getting sticks / mud / lizards stuck in my front mech / tyre area. And nothing seemed to change when changing gear with road ratios unless it was moving 2/3 ratios.
1x 40 b11/42 for me is more preferable, I dont ride roads though.

I think it really depends where you use it. My new bike is 36t 9-50 12 speed and I have no problem the gaps an I love the range but its flat bar and mostly used off road. I have 40t 11-42 11 speed GRX on my other gravel bike and I'm using it as my winter road bike and I hate the gearing on it just feels wrong. I'm tempted to put in back to 50/34 11-34 if I keep it for the road.

I think if your using it off road mostly I do Rocketdogs conversion when you get on 1x GRX to give more range, it easy and cheap. If you want to use it on the road a lot I'd go for Scoutroutes gearing or you can get 2x GRX and you can put 11-40 on the back which is bigger than Shimano suggest but it works

SRAM 1x11 on my Gravel bike, 38T up front with a 10-42T xD drive cassette out back, 45mm tyres and mostly use it off road. I have span out on a long downhill at the top end, but have got up every climb I have attempted without swearing or wishing for a lower gear than the 38/42 bottom gear crucially. Albeit that's on a 10kg bike with no luggage.

The 10-42 range of the xD drive cassette helps for sure, would run out of gears much sooner with an 11t top cog. The cassette is a bit gappy for road use, especially if riding with others, but that's not what I use this bike for. I very rarely ride road these days, but if I do, I've got a proper road bike with 2x11 Campag with a 12-29 cassette on it for some nice close ratio action.

The way I see it is this... Buying a gravel bike to use predominantly off road? Then go 1x just as you would on an MTB... Buying it to use predominantly on road or very smooth paths, then go 2x, just as you would on road (I'm a massive 1x proponent, but tried it on road and found I couldn't get the range I wanted combined with the close ratios, I would have needed a 14spd cassette to have got there)...

It's worth remembering though, that tyre size is incredibly important here too... I hear of people running 50/34 chainsets on their gravel bikes with 40mm+ tyres, a chainset size I use on my road bike with 28mm tyres and don't run out of gears! Unless you've got thighs of steel and barely turn more than 60rpm cadence, this will be far too big for a 2x setup on a gravel bike... If I wanted a road biased gravel bike, I would go for a 46/30 chainset with an 11-30 cassette and 40mm fast rolling tyres, giving closer gearing yet still plenty of range.

Horses for courses basically!

I went for 2X with 48/31 & 11-34. The drop between the rings is sizeable and took a little getting used to but is fine. At the weekend with some bike packing kit on it was perfect. If I was running 1x, I’d be looking at a second smaller chainring size to alter the gearing for bikepacking, but that’s getting faffy.

In ye olden days, bottom gear for a road bike was 42-23, and we managed mostly fine.

Mine still is and I still do. I run a 40t with an 12-25 cassette.
I have hills but as I have spent most of the last 20 years riding fixed with a much lower gearing than 40/25 I find 40/25.
Went from a 50/34 chainset to a 40 and it is nicely in between the 34 and the 50 with only a couple of gear inches lost on low end and still give 90 gear inches on high end which is fast enough for me.

That 40-40, 1:1 ratio will allow most people to climb reasonably comfortably (unladen), depending on just how hilly your area is, and TBH despite all the inevitable blather about "spinning out" 40-11 would be a tall enough top gear for most people unless you're trying to keep up with a chaingang every weekend.

The main problem I can forsee is that you mentioned you want to do some touring. I think once you've loaded the bike up you're going to want even lower gears, for that reason alone I would strongly consider a 2x chainset. The stock 46/30 (GRX) option would probably suit well, but if you can go a couple of teeth lower on either ring it won't hurt you on the hills.

and TBH despite all the inevitable blather about “spinning out” 40-11 would be a tall enough top gear for most people unless you’re trying to keep up with a chaingang every weekend.

Exactly. At 80rpm with a 38c tyre than get you 24mph which is a pretty good speed on road and something I can only dream of maintaining.
The only 'issue' will be if you want to pedal downhill when going 30mph+

I'm 2x 50/34 and 34-12 (iirc).
For me, with some steep hills and occasional luggage, it's just not low enough.
I'm due to change chainset to (likely) 46/30 or 44/28.

I live near the OP and use 42T 11-42 on mine, with 700x50c tyres.

Others I ride with a using the same gearing, works well - if you're fit enough...

The OP might want to consider upping the cassette to a 42 big ring.

Bit of a tangent but possibly still relevant, there was a good discussion on Youtube between a coach/gravel racer Dylan Johnson and a guy from Silca, discussing drivetrain losses.

He was NOT a big fan of tiny sprockets. In general the less the chain has to flex when wrapping around a cog, the less drivetrain friction. Same for chain angle. On this basis they were still actually recommending bigger cogs and 2x to reduce both effects.

They were quantifying drivetrain losses in 'number of oversized pulleys' e.g. you've just spent £500 on an oversized pulley but then lost all the benefits because you're wrapping the chain around a 9 tooth sprocket.

I'm convinced I can feel the difference in speed between a well waxed chain and a dirty/dry chain so I wonder how much difference you would feel using a 2x with the correct ratios? Maybe I should be building myself a 14-36 cassette 😁

On an old van nic Amazon tourer (that has magically morphed into an on trend gravel bike).

It's kinda funny how they had basically a pretty dialled in gravel bike about 15 years before they became a thing.

Oh, and I run a double. 52/36 - but I think I'm comfortable being a bit more grindy than most.

I get where people are coming from in that 40/11 is a big enough top gear for a comfortable cadence/speed unless you're hammering downhill, but personally I'd rather be in the middle of the cassette. Better chainline, don't wear out the cassette as quickly, slightly more efficient. Bonus that you then also have the gears to hammer downhill if you want.

It’s kinda funny how they had basically a pretty dialled in gravel bike about 15 years before they became a thing.

My Amazon was bought to replace a Kona Sutra. That would still look fine today on most gravel rides. A bit more chunky and "ponderous" I guess.

My Amazon was bought to replace a Kona Sutra. That would still look fine today on most gravel rides. A bit more chunky and “ponderous” I guess.

hm, didn't the Amazon pre-date the Sutra? The Airborne Carpe Diem definitely did.

Yep. I guess the Airborne did. There were a couple of other bikes popping up as "monstercross" at the time too. I think it was the availability of BB7 Road brakes that opened up the possibilities somewhat.

Yeah, there were one or two others (I'd still kinda like a Poprad). I think the CD/Amazon had the closest to current gravel geometry, most things were closer to CX or touring.

As someone ~82Kg and my threshold being ~3.5W/Kg for 20mins, with ~13Kg for my road bike; water; kit; tools in pocket etc., all I know is I make a lot of use of my easiest gear 34/34 on the road once the gradient goes above ~10%.

On Saturday I was grinding at ~60rpm up the nasty ~17% ramp above Peniel for 4mins, as part of the Road To Hell climb.

On a less smooth surface, I'd definitely want at least one sprocket larger than my smallest chainring, if not several!

Lighter and the many more powerful members of the audience could get away with smaller dinner plates. 😉

1x GRX on new sonder camino Ti
it came 40t / 11-42t as standard, i stuck a 11-46T on not found a hill i couldn't pedal up yet, i'm more mtb'er than road, so i like a slightly lower gear,

on flat i'm pretty much in top 2-3 gears, on descents, it can run out of pedal, but i've had it upto 55kmph on a steeper gradient.

depends what you want out of the bike, 1x11 works for me, and offers plenty of range for having fun

I find that 1:1 on second gear is about right for me. I'm running a 38T oval chainring and 11-46 cassette on my knobly wheels, 11-42 on the slick-shod wheels. It works for me, there's not a lot that I can't ride up, and if it's steeper than that I'm probably suffering from lack of grip. I can happily spin up to mid/high 20s mph. I'm quite happy to freewheel past that.

I did, however, pick up a 2x left hand lever in case I ever wanted more gears. Though I'm probably more likely to take the ratchet out and use it as a dropper lever if I'm honest.

Live in Kent, so few short sharp climbs up the North Downs, but mostly "rolling" terrain. Also I do end up riding places that the mountain bike would have been more suitable.

ETA: I also suspect that I'm in a minority in that I quite like the Shimano 11 speed 11-46 cassettes, they feel like a good combination of 10 reasonably close ratios and a bail out this is steep / I'm tired option.

All my MTBs are wide-range 1x but for my mixed use (off-road, bikepacking, commute, road) Sonder Camino gravel bike 2x was the only sensible answer to get a suitable range. I went with GRX 48/31 front, 11-34 rear. IMO 1x is great if your riding is mostly off-road and you don’t care about having a higher gear for the road and descents. Or it’s fine with a bigger chainring if you are happy with higher gears on the flat(ish) and are not worried about low gears for steep climbs or a loaded bike. If you mix your riding/terrain and don't want to compromise then 2x will give you a much wider range. Otherwise you would need to go with a big range 1x (10-50+) cassette such as Eagle or Campag Ekar to get the spread of high and low ratios. Or you could swap the chainring depending on your planned ride - sounds like a pain to me! What I like about 2x is the ability to bulk change gears with the chainrings as you start a climb or crest over the top. IMO this is much better than multiple rear changes and really suits gravel/road style riding on a light and responsive rigid bike. My 2x has been no more difficult to look after than 1x and with the clutch mech the chain is perfectly secure on the roughest of tracks. I’ve not weighed it, but the weight of the front mech and extra chainring will largely be offset by the smaller/lighter cassette. So, for a mixed use gravel bike I’d recommend 2x despite being a complete 1x convert for MTB.

Worth considering that if your loaded riding is an occasional thing, swapping in a lower chainring should be fairly straightforward with 1x.

Personally I’d likely go 1x on a gravel bike that might occasionally don luggage and 2x on a load lugger that might occasionally get made a bit more sporty.

The 2x would have the lowest possible big ring i thought I could get away with and a small small to match though, set up as more of a 1x + granny. Last time I did that it was a 40/28 set of Mtb chainrings mounted on a triple to nudge the chain line in.

When does steep gravel become scree?

Of course you are all missing the best option. A triple. You get a nice compact block at the back, a potentially wider range of gears or no nasty gaps.
What the 1x fans forget is that whilst they bang on about simplicity, they are ditching the simplest, most fool proof moving part on a bike, the front mech and replacing it with a complex clutch mech that has to be so long that it nearly drags the ground. They'll be having a 3rd wheel soon below the cage! Chuck in a huge, heavy and expensive cassatte and in many ways it is a backward step. I agree that some design features prohibit a front mech but I question their need for real humans who are not all cycling gods.
My current fave bike to ride on gravel and easy MTB, eg the Verderers here in the Forest is my Campag kitted triple set up with an 8 speed cassette. Does everything. If only there was a hydro braked triple front changer for drop bars.

+1 for a triple, use mine effectively as 1x by sticking to the 39t middle ring 90% of the time but have a bail out low & high gears when I need them

1X here. Bought and it WAS the only thing I was going to change about the bike. 40t + 11-42 was fine for gravel but lacked a bit on the road. Not enough high end and too big gaps at tope end. However with the following change I have no intention of going 2X now.

In the winter I just run it as a road/winter bike and for that I have swapped to 46t and a 11-36 sunrace cassette which has no gaps in the high end. It is perfect.
Only issue is that for changing from gravel to road, I really need to change my chainring too. As I only do that once a season it doesn't really matter.

I went from 3x to 2x as I wanted the hydro brakes. I can't say I've missed the triple as I've not lost any range. I was a bit lazy at keeping it in the middle ring too.

get a dropper lever and then you wont have the option of 2x 3x, that problem solved. ;0)

agree my 1x is great offroad and for a quick smash around, but if i was doing longer miles i'd go 2x,

Unloaded - I find 44 on 11-40 just fine for both Road and Gravel. It's not too spiny and not too grindy. I can get up Naish Hill in Bristol on it, or climb out of Weston in Bath upto the racecourse on it. Sure, it's hard, but it's doable. Its just on the okay side of things on loose, technical stuff, but if you lose momentum, you can't get going again.

For bike packing/touring i'm also on 54/34 and 11-40.

Hmm. Longest ride of the year for me today at a humble 90km on good gravel and tarmac.

38t Garabaruk oval up front, 11-40 XT cassette out back. Chain liberally held together by Putoline as the whole drivetrain is well past 1% wear and the Putoline seems to be the only thing holding it together!

Was perfect for everything. Maybe I've just got stronger since last year. In fact the only thing wrong was the rattling of my 2x 105 shifter, no amount of insulating tape seems to stop it flapping about!

Possibly regretting investing in that 46/30 Absolute Black/Ultegra chainset for the new bike now... 😖