Single chain ring mtb?

[gareth h]

I'm thinking about upgrading my cannondale Rush, one of the contenders is a whyte130, which had a single front chainring, I'm a bit concerned I will struggle on steep climbs, not too worried about spinning out on the downhills, does anybody have experience?
Thanks
G

[deadtom]

gareth h said:

I'm thinking about upgrading my cannondale Rush, one of the contenders is a whyte130, which had a single front chainring, I'm a bit concerned I will struggle on steep climbs, not too worried about spinning out on the downhills, does anybody have experience?
Thanks
G

where do you ride? how fit are you? what type of riding do you normally do? where do your priorities fall when it comes to weight vs ease of maintenance vs mechanical simplicity etc?

I use a 34 tooth chainring with a standard 11 - 36 cassette and 26 inch wheels. very occasionally I find myself wanting a lower gear, but by that point a lower ratio would mean that I'm going so slowly I might as well get off and walk anyway

[daddy cool]

gareth h said:

I'm thinking about upgrading my cannondale Rush, one of the contenders is a whyte130, which had a single front chainring, I'm a bit concerned I will struggle on steep climbs, not too worried about spinning out on the downhills, does anybody have experience?
Thanks
G

No experience myself, but expect that my next mtb will be 1x11 (currently 2x10), as im all about simplicity and saving a bit of weight. You know the single-ring bikes tend to have a dinner-plate sized cassette at the back to give the same spread of gears?
Do you ever come over to Swinley? Pretty sure the BikeHub (hire shop) has Whyte T130, which i *think* is a 1x11 version (you'd need to check). I asked ages ago, and rather than the usual 2 hour loans, they do a 3-hour hire for ~£30. You could hire one and spend a few hours blasting around. If you can get up the biggest hill on the red route, then you should be fine.

Alternative is borrowing a demo bike from Mountain Trax (5 miles up the road from Swinley). Thats £50, but if you buy from them they refund the demo cost - they deffo have a 1x11:
http://mountain-trax.web-epos.com/page/39/Training...
(The £50 demo charge is actually for a month - within the month you can come back and borrow all their demo bikes on different days)

[paulmon]

Depends on where you ride and your level of fitness. I have single ring on both my 29er HT and 26 FS with a 40T Hope T-Rex on the back. I have a 30T on the front of my full sus which will pretty much get me up anything the lakes and peaks have to offer. On my HT I currently have a 32T but also have a 34T that I can use depending on the terrain. I very rarely run out of gears on the full suss but can do so on the HT.

Benefits are lack of clutter on the bars, ease of maintenance, less chance of dropping chains, less weight. If you are concerned about your fitness levels use one of the may gear ratio calculators to see what gears you lose and then go and ride your Cannondale and make the conscious effort not to use the gears you would lose. If you find it easy then happy days. If you are getting bigger wheels then you may need to factor this into it as well.

[JD PH]

I'm 100% converted to single rings. With a clutch rear mech and a drop-stop front ring they are lighter, simpler, cheaper and more reliable. In terms of big climbs, I've rarely wanted for a granny ring - I tend to run a 30t front and have a 40t hope REX expander on the back. For me this is the best combo of not spinning out on the way down and being able to climb up steep stuff.

Keep in mind that wheel sizes have an impact of gearing too - the 30t front ring is perfect on my Specialized Camber EVO 29er, but my longer travel 650b YT capra would probably work just as well with a 32t front ring.

I highly recommend the absolute black "oval" chain rings too - both for keeping the chain on and helping to smooth out your pedal stroke. Well priced too.,

[NCC]

30t front with 11-42(!) cassette here, on a fairly heftily built Halifax pig iron bike with 26" wheels.

Gets up and down anything round Calderdale. I'm totally convinced by the whole 1x thing now.

[Herman Toothrot]

deadtom said:

I use a 34 tooth chainring with a standard 11 - 36 cassette and 26 inch wheels. very occasionally I find myself wanting a lower gear, but by that point a lower ratio would mean that I'm going so slowly I might as well get off and walk anyway

This is basically my experience. I now see absolutely no point in anything but a single ring setup.

[anonymous-user]

Another vote for 1x11

[gazza285]

Herman Toothrot said:

deadtom said:

I use a 34 tooth chainring with a standard 11 - 36 cassette and 26 inch wheels. very occasionally I find myself wanting a lower gear, but by that point a lower ratio would mean that I'm going so slowly I might as well get off and walk anyway

This is basically my experience. I now see absolutely no point in anything but a single ring setup.

Same here, but I'm on an 11-28 cassette with a 32 chainring, gets me around West Yorkshire with a bit of grunting. Still prefer my single speed to be honest.

[JD PH]

CoinSl0t said:

Another vote for 1x11

I agree, although 1 x 10 shouldn't be ruled out either, especially with an expander ring.

[richardxjr]

gazza285 said:

Still prefer my single speed to be honest.

I threaten my lad with SS when he doesn't use his gears enough

OP have a play around on Sheldon Brown's gear calculator.

Said lad's moving from 24" 145mm cranks 1x7 28T/14-28 to 26" 165mm 1x9 30T/12-36 which will give him one much easier climbing gear more than what he's used to. 21.5:24.0 gear inches.

[anonymous-user]

I've been 1by for coming up to 3 years now. Using typical expander ring on the back (42tooth). No way would i go back to multiple front rings again.

[snorkel sucker]

It's all about ratios. There isn't really any reason why even an averagely fit rider couldn't make a 1 x 10 or 1 x 11 setup work for them, but you need to chose your setup correctly.

30t upfront is as low as you really want to go. Any lower and you'll spin out too easily. If you live somewhere with lots of climbing i.e. Wales, Lakes, Scotland then unless you're extremely fit it's likely you'll want either a 30t or 32t.

Out back you can just go for an 11-36 cassette or you can opt for an expander ring which basically sacrifices one of the lower gears i.e. 15t or 17t and 'replaces' it with a 40t or 42t to give you better climbing ability.

Ratios are also affected by wheel size so based on you opting for a Whyte T130, that is a 27.5 wheelsize. To simplify, a 32t front ring on a 26" bike will be "easier" pedal than a 32t on a 29er bike due to the larger rotation of the wheel.

You can quite easily create a simple ratio calculator on excel and have a play around. I assume you are a reasonable rider if you are opting for a T130 so on that broad assumption I'm certain a 1 x 10 (or 1 x 11, I don't know which it comes with) would be fine. If you do struggle, it will only be for a while - you'll ultimately end up a fitter and stronger rider.

[gareth h]

Thanks guys, I'll check the ratios and try a few rides only using what would be available on the 1x11, and see how it goes.
I

[Pablo16v]

Max_Torque said:

I've been 1by for coming up to 3 years now. Using typical expander ring on the back (42tooth). No way would i go back to multiple front rings again.

Close to 3 years for me too. Both bikes (29ers) are 1x10 with 30t front rings and 40t Hope T-Rex's.

[Mark83]

deadtom said:

where do you ride? how fit are you? what type of riding do you normally do? where do your priorities fall when it comes to weight vs ease of maintenance vs mechanical simplicity etc?

I use a 34 tooth chainring with a standard 11 - 36 cassette and 26 inch wheels. very occasionally I find myself wanting a lower gear, but by that point a lower ratio would mean that I'm going so slowly I might as well get off and walk anyway

This.

I run the same set up and never felt I needed a bigger cassette or smaller chainring. I'm not too bothered about spinning out downhill.

[rhinochopig]

My winter MTB is 1x9 32 front - 36 cassette and I've never needed a lower gear and I'm fat and unfit. This is around the N-Yorks Moors so hardly flat either. I wouldn't bother with an expander TBH. Just try riding 1x9 or 1x10 first and see how you get on.