2x to 1x
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Gear ratios are kind of a bad representation of how things work for general purpose cycling. Gear inches is a better way to do it. Sheldon Brown gear inches calculator. Tells you the inches you will travel per 1 full rotation of the crank. Easier to visualize in your head.
If your mainly in your 22 right now, 30T is going to kick your a$$ because you loose a big chunk of your low range. Your likely better off getting a 24 or 26t NW ring to bolt in place of your 22 to start with. When I went 1x before there was crap for options I was wishing I had something smaller than 30T, I ended up buying a DD style crank because 30t was just torture on a fatty.
Best way to figure this out:
Go ride your normal trails, do as best you can to see what segment of the cassette you spend your time in. Especially how much your in the biggest cog in the back (granny gear). Then use the gear inches calculator to give you numbers to represent what gears you use most. Then you can change chainring tooth counts easily to have a second column to see what you can get buy with on a 1x chainring (or 3rd column of you put both your chainrings in)
You can also look at different cassette like 11-42 to give yourself more range in 1x system.
1x IS NOT AN UPGRADE, it's a simplification or preference. Understand that before deciding.
Sheldon browns calculators let you do all kinds of "geeking out" but also let you fine tune things like your rings and cassette to fit exactly what you need.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
If your mainly in your 22 right now, 30T is going to kick your a$$ because you loose a big chunk of your low range. Your likely better off getting a 24 or 26t NW ring to bolt in place of your 22 to start with. When I went 1x before there was crap for options I was wishing I had something smaller than 30T, I ended up buying a DD style crank because 30t was just torture on a fatty.
Best way to figure this out:
Go ride your normal trails, do as best you can to see what segment of the cassette you spend your time in. Especially how much your in the biggest cog in the back (granny gear). Then use the gear inches calculator to give you numbers to represent what gears you use most. Then you can change chainring tooth counts easily to have a second column to see what you can get buy with on a 1x chainring (or 3rd column of you put both your chainrings in)
You can also look at different cassette like 11-42 to give yourself more range in 1x system.
1x IS NOT AN UPGRADE, it's a simplification or preference. Understand that before deciding.
Sheldon browns calculators let you do all kinds of "geeking out" but also let you fine tune things like your rings and cassette to fit exactly what you need.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Thank you for the information! I will look into all of that.
I'm mainly wanting to go to 1x for the simplification as I only use the little cog in front anyways. I'll look into the 11-42 also to see if that helps out once I find what gears I mainly use on the trails.
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2,634 Posts
To answer the original question:
If you mainly ride in 22t and you install a 30t, it will be harder to pedal for the same/speed conditions you would ride with 22t.
If you need to use 2nd gear to climb a hill with the 22t, it might not be possible for you to climb that hill with a 30t.
Look at the ratio and compare the two.
Compare the 22/21 ration from above at ratio 1.05. This puts you in 5th gear.
Switching to the 30t is the same gear but in 3rd gear.
With he 30t, you easiest gear will be similar to your current 3rd gear. Go ride around in 3rd gear and ride the tough stuff without shifting to 2nd or 1st. If that works for you, the 1x low gears will be sufficient for you. But yeah, the new easy gear will be similar to 3rd on your bike now, split between 3rd and 4th gear.
Hope that makes sense.
If you mainly ride in 22t and you install a 30t, it will be harder to pedal for the same/speed conditions you would ride with 22t.
If you need to use 2nd gear to climb a hill with the 22t, it might not be possible for you to climb that hill with a 30t.
Look at the ratio and compare the two.
Compare the 22/21 ration from above at ratio 1.05. This puts you in 5th gear.
Switching to the 30t is the same gear but in 3rd gear.
With he 30t, you easiest gear will be similar to your current 3rd gear. Go ride around in 3rd gear and ride the tough stuff without shifting to 2nd or 1st. If that works for you, the 1x low gears will be sufficient for you. But yeah, the new easy gear will be similar to 3rd on your bike now, split between 3rd and 4th gear.
Hope that makes sense.
1X is definitely simpler. I had 36/22 up front in 2X9 prior to going to 1X10. Since I was primarily riding in the 36, even up the steepest hills on my rides, I didn't see the need to keep the front derailleur when I wore out the drive-train. Simple change, and I don't miss the front derailleur at all. The only real challenge is making sure the chainring is the right size up front. I vacillate between 34 and 36.
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