Advice needed: Should I switch from 2X10 to 1X11 on a touring bike

[huskerdont]

@dkel 182449 wrote:

Yes. Just cleaned it today (for the first time ever, believe it or not).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18547[/ATTACH]

Hey look, another orange Soma! Nice!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18548[/ATTACH]

[DismalScientist]

Bah… The only thing an orange bike is good for is deer hunting.

[hozn]

@ginacico 182379 wrote:

Ding ding! I think this is precisely the answer I was hoping for. It’s the equivalent of what I did with the 10-spd triple, but compatible with new 11-spd Ultegra. I very much appreciate you honing in on specifics and providing all the background resources too, good stuff n18!

It remains to be seen whether CoMo will swap out parts, or whether I get the stock package and do it myself later.

I probably missed this from earlier in the thread, but I believe you will need a TanPan (or equivalent from jTech) to allow 11sp road shifters to work with the mtb rear derailleur. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/derailleur-optimization/products/tanpan

If you do end up having to source these parts yourself, lemme know; I believe I have both of those (a TanPan + an M8000), used, in a box from when I was considering implementing a Shimano 1x setup.

I agree with your arguments against 1x. I wouldn’t change it on my ‘cross or gravel bike, but I can imagine that for touring having really fine-grained gear selection would be valuable.

I use a 10-42t cassette with a 44t chain ring. That’s a great gravel setup, but doesn’t have the range you’re looking for. The only thing I’d say is that the (1-piece) XG cassettes (for driver) are very nice when it comes to swapping a cassette between wheels. I do that enough, that I’ll pay the premium for cassettes (but I buy XG-1175 take-off cassettes on ebay, so there isn’t much of a premium). But the Shimano 11-40 XTR cassette I have on my road bike shifts much smoother than the SRAM XG cassettes.

[ginacico]

@hozn 182489 wrote:

I probably missed this from earlier in the thread, but I believe you will need a TanPan (or equivalent from jTech) to allow 11sp road shifters to work with the mtb rear derailleur. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/derailleur-optimization/products/tanpan

If you do end up having to source these parts yourself, lemme know

Very interesting. Still waiting to see what Co-Motion comes up with, but I’ll keep this offer in mind – thanks Hozn!

As of today the Vaya is still sitting sad and forlorn in my basement. Peter wants to send the cracked frame off to Bilenky, who said they could assess and possibly fix it (replace the downtube and realign the rest). If it happens, I’d eventually be in the market for a drive train, wheels, and other things. I’m not hopeful about that project but who knows really, I just haven’t had the heart to take it apart yet and see what’s salvageable.

[ginacico]

So here’s an elegant solution I just learned about.

White Industries makes a crank set for gravel riding called the G30. You can get it as a 1X or 2X, and the double option lets you choose among a wide array of chainrings (called VBC) to configure the gear ratio you want. All compatible with 9, 10 and 11 speed drivetrains.

For those of you who follow our local touring icons TenMetersFromTheHut and FlakyTartDough, this is the setup they have on their low trail Waterfords, which they’re currently riding around the world. They chose 44/28t for the chainrings, which reportedly work just fine with Ultegra shifters. If it’s good enough for Kazakhstan…..

Given all the possible combinations, I went down the rabbit hole with a gear calculator. 46/26t chainrings and a standard 11-34t 11-spd cassette results in a range of 20.6 to 112.9 gear inches (assuming 700×38 tires and 170 crank arms). Still not quite as impressive as the Pinion P.18 (17.8 to 111.7) but getting close. There may be some tradeoffs in expanding the range and reducing the gear overlap, but I’m not sure what those are besides getting used to shifting such a beast — White Ind simply recommends not more than a 24-tooth gap between small and big rings.

[peterw_diy]

The White Industries crank looks really nice, but it’s (unsurprisingly) expensive — $300 for the arms, $175 for the VBC rings — and 26/46 is achievable with a standard 74/110 BCD crank. So why not just use something like this $158 Sugino double plus chain guard from Rivindell, throw away the chain guard, and spend another $40 to buy a 46T 110 ring?

[Author]

Posts