Quantcast

Going from 1 x to 2 x

johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,066
16,488
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
I'm tired of the 1 x 11 drive train on my T275 and want to go to two rings and a derailleur in front (gasp...); the frame has a mounting boss for a front derailleur. Has anyone been through this exercise?

I'm looking for real world experience, suggestions, and am ready to endure the inevitable harassment.
 
StiHacka

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,505
In hell. Welcome!
Shimano or SRAM drivetrain? Btw. I found 2x to be the most finicky setup from the chainline and chain retention POV. Both 3x and 1x are much easier to make work.
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,318
8,875
Crawlorado
May I ask why?

I've been through this exercise several times over the past couple of years here in CO, though it was flipping between 1x9 and 2x9. I found that when in 2x9 mode I rarely ever used the granny gear; anything that felt steep enough to require it usually meant I was going too slowly to keep my balance over rocks and roots. I'm currently on 32x11-42 and feel that it could use a wee bit extra grunt for the uphills, otherwise I greatly appreciate the range it offers.
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,318
8,875
Crawlorado
johnbryanpeters said:
I went from 3 x 9 to 1 x 11, losing gearing on both ends.

Riding it for two years taught me a bunch about climbing technique, but I still want the extended range on both ends.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. To be honest I never had many problems with dropped chains running a front derailleur. To each their own, good luck with the transition!
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,938
13,187
Will your frame take one of the new Shimano side-swing front derailleurs?

My 29er HT is currently rigid running 3x9, I keep pondering a change to 2x11 with 36/26 cranks and 11-40T cassette. I'd lose just over a gear at the top end, but keep the same low end. I use the bike for bike packing and a lot of road/gravel miles so I want to keep a decent range.

I think I can make the side swing work, supposedly they're much better than traditional front derailleurs. I'd run it with a SRAM GX 2x11 rear as I use grip shifters.

For you to make it work it sounds like you'd need:
rear der
front der
front shifter
spider and rings

(FYI Jenson has 2x11 XTR cranksets for ~$200 at the moment)
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,938
13,187
The SRAM 1x rear derailleurs won't work in a 2x system.

Staying 1x might be your better option and trying an e13 9-46 cassette.

Neither option is cheap though.
 
johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,066
16,488
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
The whole drive train I'm running on right now is absurdly expensive. SRAM in general is absurdly expensive. I put enough miles on to make this clearly evident. The Eagle would just be wading deeper into the swamp.

Similarly, I don't want to run XTR anything.

I think my XD rear hub pretty much compels me to stay with SRAM clusters, but if I could replace everything else with an XT 2 x setup, I would consider it seriously.
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,938
13,187
johnbryanpeters said:
I think my XD rear hub pretty much compels me to stay with SRAM clusters, but if I could replace everything else with an XT 2 x setup, I would consider it seriously.
Click to expand...
No reason you can't stick with a SRAM cassette at all.
Get the XT FD, RD and shifters, then decide if you want to get XT cranks and BB or add a spider and rings to your existing crankset.
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,650
1,121
NORCAL is the hizzle
Aside from the range of your current setup, do you appreciate the benefits of a 1X rig? If so, consider the e.13 9-46 cassette. That should solve your concerns about range at both ends of the spectrum, and retain the benefits of 1X. Not cheap but you're looking at a bunch of dough to convert to 2X anyway.
 
Serial Midget

Serial Midget

Al Bundy
Jun 25, 2002
13,053
1,896
Fort of Rio Grande
I'm a hack so my answer is to ditch the Sram kit and find a take off XT kit cheap on teh webs. XT has been the best bang for my buck since the mid 90s.

My bargain SB6 has a GX 2X which I find clunky and slow, the GT has XTR and the Giant has XT, I cant tell any difference but both perform flawlessly for me, replacement bits are cheap and easy to find.
 
ALEXIS_DH

ALEXIS_DH

Tirelessly Awesome
Jan 30, 2003
6,147
796
Lima, Peru, Peru
i really regret not buying a 2x setup for my ibis.
i can spin out when pedalling in flat terrain! (32t on 11-42t). and the jump in the 4 largest cogs are huge. hard to keep a cadence on longi-sh (1000ft+ vertical) ascents
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom