[phantoj]

I have a few older bikes that my kids ride (or that I ride when one of my kids is on my bike). I'm thinking about converting one of them to 1x. I don't want to spend much on an older bike that is only ridden occasionally. I don't mind getting stuff from China via Ebay or Ali Express. I am thinking I want a cassette with ~46 teeth and a derailler+shifter that will work well with it. Probably stick a 32t narrow-wide chainring on my existing crank, but I suppose I could try a new crank too.

Any experience with the options out there?

Microshift Advent 9 speed looks good to me with the clutch derailleur. The Acolyte 8-speed stuff looks OK, too.
Looks like I can get a LTWOO 1x10 setup for around $75, but upgrading to Deore shifter and mech isn't a lot more.

I don't care much about weight, just want something that works OK. Any experience?

 

[frdfandc]

Go old school 1x. Remove the shifter, front derailleur, pull the cranks and pull all 3 rings. Install new narrow wide where the middle ring goes.

New Rd and cassette and chain. Done.

Don't need to replace the crank unless you want a dedicated 1x crank.

Sent from my moto e6 using Tapatalk

 

[baker]

Maybe look at the Box offerings? When I converted to a 1x on a bike a couple years ago, I picked up a Box 2 groupset and it worked well for cheap...

 

[jimPacNW]

I've had good luck with the Sunrace cassettes, I've been using the 9sp 11-40. Mine came with a der hanger extender piece so that it would work with older ders. On a 29er, you can go pretty fast with a 30t front, I put one of those on my 'mud' hardtail, and I've used the Sunrace on that bike, and the old 26er shed bike, a 30 x 40 is a pretty low gear on a 29er. A 32x40 is quite low on a 26er (a 32x11 is too low on a 26er, IMO 26ers are better with 3x9). The Snail brand chainrings off ebay are cheap and work fine.