Looking at 1x11 - how much will I notice gear inches?

Looking at 1x11 - how much will I notice gear inches?

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Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
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Afternoon chaps,

I've got a Stumpjumper FSR Comp Evo 650b. It came with 175mm cranks with 36/24 rings and an 11- 36 10 speed cassette. This gives a gear inch range of 18.5 to 90.2.

Looking at the new XT 1x11 options, the 11-42 cassette would give me 19.6 to 75.3 with a 30 tooth ring, 21 to 80.3 on 32 teeth and 22.4 - 85.3 on 34 teeth.

Obviously the claim that 1x11 can provide the same range as 2x10 just with less duplication isn't true, but how much difference would I actually notice? I typically only use the highest gears on flat or downhill tarmac linking up trails, so probably wouldn't miss it too much, but a loss of 15 gear inches sees like quite a lot? At the other end of the scale, 18.5 to 19.6 doesn't sound like a lot, but it's about 7% difference, which from that angle looks rather more significant?

Also, the easiest route in terms of fitting kit to the bike would be to use an XT cassette (so that I don't need a new hub) and a SRAM GX 11 crankset, as I assume this will make life easier with the existing PF 30 BB, but are the two compatible, and if they are, would it work better with a SRAM mech or an XT mech?

richardxjr

7,561 posts

209 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
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On my geared bike, 26", I use 30T 11-36. I thought I'd be spinning out all the time, but I don't. If I am, then I've chosen the wrong (boring) route down the hill wink

Even since going singlespeed for most my riding (29er 32T 18), I could now easily handle a 34T chainring on the geared bike, but still don't feel I need any more top end tbh.

Depends on terrain obv. My stuff is steep hills, flat ridges & 100% off road.




Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
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As a further thought on this, if I went from 175mm cranks to 170mm to reduce pedal stroke, am I right in thinking that this woud make climbing slightly harder, due to less leverage?

The more I look into this, the more of a pain it seems to be! Bloody annoying of Spesh to fit a PF30 BB and a ten speed rear hub, as it means one end or the other has to have a significant change made!

Can I fit a SRAM XD driver adaptor to my existing rear hub, or would I have to replace the hub?

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
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Do you actually use all the gears? After building my single speed I've found that there isn't much I can't climb now I haven't got gears, you just need a bit more leg power. I did find any long road sections were hard work, due to spinning out, so I've now got a 1x9 set up using a 36 up front and a 28/11 on the back on another bike if there are going to be any long road sections.

What's wrong with the current set-up anyway?

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
Do you actually use all the gears? After building my single speed I've found that there isn't much I can't climb now I haven't got gears, you just need a bit more leg power. I did find any long road sections were hard work, due to spinning out, so I've now got a 1x9 set up using a 36 up front and a 28/11 on the back on another bike if there are going to be any long road sections.

What's wrong with the current set-up anyway?
I definitely use all the low end of the cassette, as there's 17 stone of me to lug up hills. That's 2.5 less than at the beginning of the year, but still takes a bit of gearing!! Not so much the high end, but I do use it at times.

As for why change, partly I'd like to fit shorter cranks to reduce pedal strike (low BB is nice, but it's ridiculous on this bike!), partly it's a case of "want shiny", partly having £150 in CRC vouchers for my birthday to put towards it, partly liking the simplification and doubtless partly being a victim of marketing!

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
BB shouldn't be that low that you are suffering from lots of pedal strike, could you pump up the shock pre-load a bit?

The lure of shiny things is strong though.

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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gazza285 said:
BB shouldn't be that low that you are suffering from lots of pedal strike, could you pump up the shock pre-load a bit?
It's not lots - maybe 2 or 3 times on an average ride - but still annoying. If you read any review of the bike, it comes up, so it's not just me. Apparently, it's down to the compromise that Spesh performed to put a 650b bike out to market quickly once they finally decided 26" was dead.

I've also got a nice steel hardtail with a fairly high BB for XC type riding, so I don't really want to lift the BB on the spesh, but an extra 5mm of pedal clearance wouldn't hurt...

richardxjr

7,561 posts

209 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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Going from 175 to 170 cranks would make climbing a tad easier. Not much though, bit like the difference between a 2.1 and 2.3 rear tyre. Will affect fully extended saddle height a tad too.



Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
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Can you go for thinner pedals? I've been having far fewer pedal strikes after ditching the V8s.

I was also looking at 1 x 11, but I think I'm going to stick with 1 x 10 for now, as the cost for changing to 1 x 11 seems quite steep, especially when I'd have to replace both of my multi tools due to them not supporting 11 speed chains.

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

197 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
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Riding the mountains in S.Wales 1x10, 32T 11-36T combo is fine I find. High MTB gears really are redundant unless you ride your MTB on road all the time very fast.

joema

2,644 posts

178 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
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Kermit power said:
It's not lots - maybe 2 or 3 times on an average ride - but still annoying. If you read any review of the bike, it comes up, so it's not just me. Apparently, it's down to the compromise that Spesh performed to put a 650b bike out to market quickly once they finally decided 26" was dead.

I've also got a nice steel hardtail with a fairly high BB for XC type riding, so I don't really want to lift the BB on the spesh, but an extra 5mm of pedal clearance wouldn't hurt...
The geometry just looks all wrong. Steepish head angle, low bb, short reach.

my x11 is perfect. Rarely even need the 42t. Not sure why any one would run 2x10 as x11 has pretty much the same gearing but half the amount of stuff. Only having one gear to change while attacking also helps when racing