[Closed] Preview: The XX1 Hack...from Bike thoughts?

If I was building a cheap XX1, a £400 set of cranks would be a poor start.

Pretty sure you could have an X01 groupset for the price of the above.

What is it with using the word "hack" when its nothing more than a bodge. Does it somehow give a bodge an air of legitimacy?
To me hacking something is pissing about with coding or programing.

re crank this is article reasoning(?)

THE CRANK/CHAINRING COMBO
The Race Face crank is a pricey bit of gear, but those hollow carbon arms are light and sexy, and this thing is in need of some old- fashioned bashing about, so it got the nod for our test. That said, you can bolt a narrow-wide style ring ($60 to $80) to a lot of cranks. I’ll probably also experiment with an MRP Bling Ring mounted to a SRAM X0 crank at some point.

It'll be 1x10 and the cranks dont have to be anyhthing different to what you've already got, so it could be cheaper. Plenty of people are already running 1x10 with a cluthc and thick/thin ring. Te only "new" thing is the 42T sprocket. I'll be interested in how that works. I'm running a 30T on the front with 11-36 cassette. Great for going up hills, but I do sometimes miss some gears on the flat (usually road sections). Going to 32T up front with a 40T at the back is something I'm interested in.

What is it with using the word "hack" when its nothing more than a bodge. Does it somehow give a bodge an air of legitimacy?
To me hacking something is pissing about with coding or programing.

Bodge is for you old mechanical/aanalogue lot! Hack is for us cool 21st century digital kids.

What is it with using the word "hack" when its nothing more than a bodge. Does it somehow give a bodge an air of legitimacy?
To me hacking something is pissing about with coding or programing.

You can "hack" mechanical items IMO, modify it to serve a different purpose, its the broader definition of Hacking.

Except I don't thing this little exercise is either a "Hack" or a "Bodge", they are simply assembling commercially available bicycle drive train components to make... A bicycle drivetrain. Not exactly bleeding edge either several people have already done the same thing on their own bikes...

So will it be 1x11 or 1x10? As if it's only x10 it's not really a 'xx1 hack' as much as it is 'fitting a 42t sprocket'

It's 1x10, you lose one in the middle (17t or so). And you still don't get the 10t either, so it's less gears, a big jump in the middle and less top end.

If they really wanted a low end, why not just go for the easier and cheeper option of a 28t front chainring? OK you'd lose 10% again off the top end Vs XX1, but at least you'd have a cassette where the ramps still lined up for multiple shifts, and not have big gaps in the middle where you spend 90% of the time anyway.

TBH they lost me at "Masochist ****er", when what they meant was "people not too chubby to pedal uphill". If you need a granny ring, accept that you need it and get on with it! It's like MAMILS too ashamed to fit a tripple, but getting off to push instead.

It'll be 1x10, as people have already found that you can't just add the One Up 42t sprocket to a 10 speed cassette to make an 11 speed 11-42, which would have been very clever.

So all they're actually doing is fitting the One Up adapter, which has been done by many people. It's definitely not a hack, it's 'using parts for their intended purpose' SICK 🙄

not hacking its modding at best, it's like the ****tish use of "ghetto" meaning cheap skate method!

I do wonder why they haven't taken out the 15t and replaced it with a 16t to produce even gearing it would cost what £5?

However I'm glad they are using SLX as that is very much real world gear that many are using. I don't really care what crank they use as long as it is narrow wide it doesn’t matter.

rob jackson - Member

not hacking its modding at best, it's like the ****tish use of "ghetto" meaning cheap skate method!

Ghetto makes me cringe. Yes this is how all the kids are fitting their dandyhorse tyres in the ghetto.

Aren't 'ghetto' and 'hack' just American terms and as such perfectly valid for Merkins to use? A bit like if they complained that we were using the word 'bodge' when we should be saying 'hack'...

But njee is right - it seems that they're just putting together a 1x10 with the 42 exactly as it's intended to be used.

why the need for a 42T? 30 narrow wide + a 12=36 cassette is enough isn't it?

The original term "hacking" came from messing around with electronics, not programming.

In short, it's making something that follows a strict set of rules deviate from them.

And "a hack" was the name for a prank, stemming from MIT in the 1960s.

I've just read the article, what tripe.

Anyone who feels the need to put headings like: [i]"SINGLE-RING DRIVETRAINS–NOT JUST FOR MASOCHISTIC ****ERS ANYMORE"[/i] and uses the phrase: [i]"Each of the XX1 and X01 bits was designed to make sweet mechanical love to one another"[/i] just sounds like a prize prat.

How do people make a living from this sort of thing?

rOcKeTdOg - Member
why the need for a 42T? 30 narrow wide + a 12=36 cassette is enough isn't it?

Folks can have different weight bikes, steeper hills, different levels of fitness, different needs at the high end or at the low end, different size wheels, all sorts of variables.

What never varies though is the queue of people who can't understand why what suits them doesn't suit everyone.

rOcKeTdOg - Member

why the need for a 42T? 30 narrow wide + a 12=36 cassette is enough isn't it?

Too low for me tbh. 11-36 on a 32 is just about acceptable but a compromise at both ends.

all I see is a yawning gap for shimano to bring out an xt 11-42(or maybe just 40) 10speed cassette

however it seems we are stuck in a Spinal Tap world where any advance in gearing has to have 1 gear more

Too low for me tbh

Agreed, probably be ok for most off road, although certain race courses would need more, and the roads to the trails would be a right pain!

What Kimbers says, I rekon there'd be a massive market for a 10s 11-40 cassette.

Though I may give what ever Works come out with a go, hopefully a 40t along the lines of the OneUp.

What Kimbers says, I rekon there'd be a massive market for a 10s 11-40 cassette.

The problem is, making it in the conventional way it weighs a chuffin ton if you just make it from steel and rivet it to the same carier as used to hold a 36t sprocket. More than, for example, a front mech and granny ring.

An integrated version of the Oneup, with an alu ring but built into the carrier of an SLX/XT style cassette, could get past some of the issues of the standalone rings, mind. And even a smaller increase would still be good, 11-38 perhaps.

TBH it's all pretty irritating... Both Shimano and SRAM withheld 11-36 for 9-speed to try and push people to 10-speed, because at the time of launch they knew they didn't have enough reasons for people to upgrade. And now, SRAM are withholding high-range 10-speed because they want to sell 11-speed (at least they're refreshingly honest about milking the early adopters, unlike Shimano who claimed 9-speed couldn't do 36 until the day they launched one)...

And Shimano obviously want to sell triples (even triples with inexplicably shrinking gear ranges) and doubles.

TBH it's all pretty irritating... [b]Both Shimano[/b] and SRAM [b]withheld 11-36 for 9-speed [/b]to try and push people to 10-speed, because at the time of launch they knew they didn't have enough reasons for people to upgrade. And now, SRAM are withholding high-range 10-speed because they want to sell 11-speed (at least they're refreshingly honest about milking the early adopters, unlike [b]Shimano[/b] who claimed [b]9-speed[/b] couldn't do [b]36[/b] until the day they [b]launched one[/b])...

Get yer rant's consitent at least!

I still like triple rings

I know I am missing something but not sure what.............

climb up most things with it

living in North of England can join up off road with road sections so do not spin out

so why do I need a
1 x 10 with a huge dinner plate?

Leonardi Factory have developed a 10-40t cassette

http://www.i-mtb.com/first-look-leonardi-general-lee-10-40t-cassette/

I've been happily running one of their 40t General Lee adapters for nearly 7 months now. The only complaint I have is that the shifting isn't as crisp as it is on a normal set up, so if the new cassette fixes that issue I'd definitely consider one when/if it's released.

Get yer rant's consitent at least!

To be fair though, Shimano did (do) a 9 speed 12-36, which is a narrower range than 11-34, so not actually that useful. They have still withheld the 9 speed 11-36 they could clearly do!

thisisnotaspoon - Member

Get yer rant's consitent at least!

Completely consistent! Shimano never made an 11-36 9-speed cassette- they said they couldn't, because 36 was too big for the mechs. Then they made a 12-36. But never the 11-36 that people want, for that you have to buy into 10-speed (or make one out of the deore 12-36)

Which I did incidentally, and it worked very well but the cassette is too heavy for my weightweenie tastes

vondally - Member
I still like triple rings

I know I am missing something but not sure what.............

climb up most things with it

living in North of England can join up off road with road sections so do not spin out

so why do I need a
1 x 10 with a huge dinner plate?

You don't. Others do.

lol Honourablegeorge......indeed but is it all marketing???

I realise some suspension designs will have less pedal bob and are optimised for single ring 32 tooth 1 x 11 but is that real or just malarkey for the everyday sorry weekend plodder like me?

indeed but is it all marketing???

Is what all marketing? Some people want to do away with the front mech and the clutter associated with it, for various reasons. Wider cassettes make that more practical, that's physics, not marketing.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of all the bodge type solutions, if a single ring meant a marked change in my riding style (whether from walking up more hills, or spinning out regularly), I'd not have done it. I chose to go 1x10 after realising that I was doing rides without actually changing on the front anyway.

the all marketing view is it another marketing shiney new toys momentg to maintain the industry or are there real world benefits, losing front mech for X gram saving versus adaptability?

this one for me is why I will be sticking with what I have

Agreed, probably be ok for most off road, although certain race courses would need more, and the roads to the trails would be a right pain!

even though curious on what 1 x 11 could hold............

are there real world benefits, losing front mech for X gram saving versus adaptability

That's my point though, personally, it didn't compromise the adaptability for what I use my bike for. It would for you, so it would be a fairly pointless thing to do.

this one for me is why I will be sticking with what I have

Agreed, probably be ok for most off road, although certain race courses would need more, and the roads to the trails would be a right pain!

But you've taken that out of context, there are solutions that are workable, I personally don't think Rocketdog's is one, but it obviously works for him.

as always it is the maxim

[i]what works for you and your needs[/i]

hence singlespeeds for some and full metal ratio for folks like me

still 1 x 11 curious and waiting to see the trickle down rather than possibly bodge/ghetto/hack solutions

still a good start for thinking on what can be done cheaply and with slx

I'm surprised some people don't understand the need for a 42 sprocket. For me it's so that I can run a bigger front ring,say a 34,but still have a bail out gear for steeper bits. For most of my riding I think I'd find a 30 too small. Ideally I'd have xx1 and with the 10 sprocket have a 32 or 30 front,but I can't justify the expense. At the moment a new works components front ring and a oneup rear sprocket has cost less than £100.