@huskerdont 139866 wrote:
But for road and commuting, the main advantages I see are eliminating slower front shifting and losing a little weight. … I suppose it’s one less ring to clean as well, if that’s your thing, and times being what they are.
Yeah, for me the advantages (in order of value) were:
– Maintenance simplicity. My FD was not doing very well (I guess it had 15k miles on it) and seemed to require frequent fiddling to keep shifts smooth and consistent. Fewer cables to replace. It is easier to clean now too, yes.
– Riding simplicity. 1x you don’t have to worry about cross chaining or gauging the terrain ahead to pick the right ring.
– Chain drops. This happened with some regularity riding off-road. To be fair, I have dropped my chain twice on the 1x setup, both on pavement surprisingly (hit a sharp bump on both cases, probably while freewheeling). No drops off-road.
– Weight. It does save weight, though the 1x rings are beefier so the rings themselves aren’t hugely different — but when you add shifter, cable+housing, FD, and ring it adds up.
– Aesthetics. Much cleaner looking. If I am honest this was probably higher on the list.
As an added benefit, I really like the type 2.1 (clutch) derailleur lock button — great for pulling the wheel out with less stuff in the way.
I was disappointed that there was no tension adjuster in the x9 RD. My Avid inline adjusters kept drifting, so I replaced them with “rocket” adjusters that get inserted inline right where the cable meets the RD. That is working great.
I haven’t noticed any degradation in chain life. My front ring is probably nearing 10k miles. I might replace it when I replace my next cassette.
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