[SlowMo]

Not to impose...

but if I wanted to go 1x9, does this mean an entirely new crank/bottom bracket, etc?

My Dos Niner came geared 3x9. Really wanted a 2x9, but this is intriguing me now.

 

[jd1072]

but if I wanted to go 1x9, does this mean an entirely new crank/bottom bracket, etc?

My Dos Niner came geared 3x9. Really wanted a 2x9, but this is intriguing me now.

Nope! Just pull off the outer and inner chain rings. If you want you might be able to tune your chainline a bit too. It also helps to get a singlespeed specific chain ring since they are burlier and tend to last longer. For now, just keeping your stock middle chain ring would work fine provided you have a chain guide. I prefer the $8 Ngear Jumpstop + bashguard combination. Set that up right and it's almost impossible to drop a chain AND you have armor for your precious chain ring.

 

[jimbowho]

I converted one bike to a 1x7 just by removing the granny and big ring. Then I replaced the ring with a no ramp, or ss 34 sprocket.

A Pauls chain keeper. Shorter ring bolts because you removed the rings. Shortened the chain by making sure lowest and highest were good.

You can of course see that there used to be a big ring their but this method works for my Klunker real well.

I bought a 1x9 and it comes with ss stuff up front already. Both real fun. I'm hooked on 1x.

Fakie1999 said it best for me.

 

[Fakie1999]

I prefer the $8 Ngear Jumpstop + bashguard combination. Set that up right and it's almost impossible to drop a chain AND you have armor for your precious chain ring.

thats what I run :thumbsup: Ngear jump stop and a bbg bashguard (running a superlight model, so, no real "protection").

 

[whybotherme]

thats what I run :thumbsup: Ngear jump stop and a bbg bashguard (running a superlight model, so, no real "protection").

i definitely found the limitation of those things. i much prefer the pricey solution that doesn't fail. Rohloff guide modified to fit the application.

funny thing... on Saturday's training ride I was on the Epic with a triple. I bonked hard around 3.5hrs into the ride and had another 1.25hrs to go and a significant amount of climbing. i was very grateful for the granny gear!!!!

 

[jd1072]

i definitely found the limitation of those things. i much prefer the pricey solution that doesn't fail. Rohloff guide modified to fit the application.

funny thing... on Saturday's training ride I was on the Epic with a triple. I bonked hard around 3.5hrs into the ride and had another 1.25hrs to go and a significant amount of climbing. i was very grateful for the granny gear!!!!

The limitation of the jump-stop, or the bbg bash guard? Please elaborate! I don't see how it could fail unless it breaks off. It doesn't look like the Rohloff guide allows for a bash guard, but I've heard they aren't as necessary in many parts of California.

I agree the granny is a "nice to have" feature, but with the exception of rides where I've bonked (HATE that feeling), I haven't missed it nor the extra potential failure points of running multiple chain rings (shifter, derailleur, cable, chain suck, etc).

 

[whybotherme]

The limitation of the jump-stop, or the bbg bash guard? Please elaborate! I don't see how it could fail unless it breaks off. It doesn't look like the Rohloff guide allows for a bash guard, but I've heard they aren't as necessary in many parts of California.

I agree the granny is a "nice to have" feature, but with the exception of rides where I've bonked (HATE that feeling), I haven't missed it nor the extra potential failure points of running multiple chain rings (shifter, derailleur, cable, chain suck, etc).

i ride technical stuff. used a Spot Brand ring guard (much lighter than a full on bash, but plenty of protection even grinding over rocks). on very fast hard descents i had the chain jump up on top of the N-gear, then under pedal torque (not knowing it was off on the top) the chain would break the plastic band that holds the N-gear on. This happened twice to me before I bought the Rohloff. I modified the Rohloff eliminating the outer plate but kept the spacers/hardware so that they captured the chain above and below like... [ This setup was infallible no matter how hard I rode.

once i started XC racing i found that having wider gear spacing allowed me to have faster lap times overall. as soon as the 1x9 was holding me back it came off the bike.

 

[Mojo Man]

Just got done doing my 3rd sport race. Although I didn't podium, I did have a good impressive ride by my standards. A lot of comp in the Sport class. I actually caught up and passed quite a few of the cat 1 racers. It's a ball passing people, it's what racing is all about.

Any way, I used my standard 1x9 set up (which I was worried about because of the long climbing) After the race, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I could of used a higher gear because of the down hill fire roads, but anything faster than 25 mph is a waste of energy due the the wind (read that some where and it makes sence)

Will be going 1 x10 for next season.

Mojo

 

[Fakie1999]

I would say the mrp 1x would be a good choice if you need more durability. I havent hit the bashguard on anything yet, and I havent had any problems with the n-gear jumpstop.

I still dont think a 1x9 is holding me back. Like I said, as long as theres single speeders beating me, I have no excuses.

 

[jd1072]

i ride technical stuff. used a Spot Brand ring guard (much lighter than a full on bash, but plenty of protection even grinding over rocks). on very fast hard descents i had the chain jump up on top of the N-gear, then under pedal torque (not knowing it was off on the top) the chain would break the plastic band that holds the N-gear on. This happened twice to me before I bought the Rohloff. I modified the Rohloff eliminating the outer plate but kept the spacers/hardware so that they captured the chain above and below like... [ This setup was infallible no matter how hard I rode.

once i started XC racing i found that having wider gear spacing allowed me to have faster lap times overall. as soon as the 1x9 was holding me back it came off the bike.

I see what you mean. For that type of riding, I use my 6" travel Nomad w/ a chainguide. I try to be nice to the race bike!

 

[rob_co2]

I have been against the idea. But I just replaced my 32t with a 36t, and so far I have not needed to use any other ring. However, I'm thinking I'll be pushing harder during races and reach the bottom of the cassette, which I hate doing because too much chain slack/slap (but slightly less problem on the 36). Probably if I swapped my 28t cassette for a 32, I could run an even bigger ring.

Does anyone run a short cage rear der and find it way better than long?

 

[whybotherme]

I have been against the idea. But I just replaced my 32t with a 36t, and so far I have not needed to use any other ring. However, I'm thinking I'll be pushing harder during races and reach the bottom of the cassette, which I hate doing because too much chain slack/slap (but slightly less problem on the 36). Probably if I swapped my 28t cassette for a 32, I could run an even bigger ring.

Does anyone run a short cage rear der and find it way better than long?

i run nothing but mid cage (X0 was available in long, mid, and short). it does help IMO.

 

[jd1072]

I have been against the idea. But I just replaced my 32t with a 36t, and so far I have not needed to use any other ring. However, I'm thinking I'll be pushing harder during races and reach the bottom of the cassette, which I hate doing because too much chain slack/slap (but slightly less problem on the 36). Probably if I swapped my 28t cassette for a 32, I could run an even bigger ring.

Does anyone run a short cage rear der and find it way better than long?

That's another advantage of running 1x9 I neglected to mention. You can take more links out of your chain since you are covering a smaller gear ratio spread (creates more tension and less chain slap), AND run a short cage rear derailleur. Benefits of a short cage are even less chain slap, decreased likelihood of of your derailleur catching on a trailside object, more accurate shifting (think road bike precision), and you can take EVEN more links out of your chain. The shorter your chain is, the fewer potential failure points you have. Really, the shorter your chain can be made, the better IMO.

 

[Zillon]

Whenever I feel like crying how everyone has so many more gears than me...

I use this as motivation to push myself even harder when I see people struggling in their granny gears and I proceed to drop into a higher gear in the rear and mash past them.

In the last three years, I've raced with a 3x, a 2x, and a 1x, and I definitely prefer the 1x. I'm used to doing a lot of races where I do a lot of climbing (last one I did, I did ~3000 feet of climbing in 12.9 miles). I never needed a granny gear; on the last lap it would've been nice, but also would have slowed me down. A 32T in the front and an 11-34T in the rear is all I really ever need. If it's steep enough for a granny gear, I can run up it faster.

As others have said, there's less chain slap, less weight, less stuff to break, and less things to worry about.

I run a BBG superlight bashguard on the outside, and the N-gear jumpstop on the inside, and so far, I've put a good 600+ race miles on this setup this year and love it.

The only reason I'd ever want a granny would be for preserving my legs on races over 25 miles. Being able to spin a bit and get the lactic acid out of your legs is nice to be able to do.

 

[gvs_nz]

Converted all but my heaviest bikes over to 1 x 9 now. No more chain suck forever. Added bonus I could recycle all my old sq drive cranks and titanium BB's with 29 tooth 5 bolt rings for super cheap super light set up.

 

[floxy]

If you decide to do 1x9 (which i'd highly recommend) do yourself a favor and get the MRP 1.x BB mounted chainguide. BBG makes a great product but the 1.x is much better epsecially for racing since you need a chainkeeper on the inside with the BBG anyway. I'm running a Blackspire Mono Veloce 32T, X.9 short cage , 11-32 cassette and it's awesome!

 

[santacruzer]

I just set my cross bike up with the BBG on both sides of the chainring, so far it works like a charm. I like the clean looks of it too. I'm thinking about doing it to the real bikes now

 

[RecceDG]

How well does that thing work in the extreme (low and high) cog positions? Do you get any rubbing on the guide?

but anything faster than 25 mph is a waste of energy due the the wind

Uh, no. Faster is faster.

It is true that wind resistance increases with the square of the relative wind speed (ground speed + wind speed) and the drag starts to get bad around 40 km/h. You will burn increasingly more energy with increasing speed, and you will burn more energy per km/h gained. The energy cost of going faster keeps rising the faster you go.

But you are still going faster - and that's the point of racing. The guy who has the fitness level to go that fast will ultimately win, all else being equal.

Of course, all else is rarely equal. If it was all about maximum gear inches, we'd be running 53t big rings and clearly that isn't happening. But any time you run out of gear on a race course, you are giving up time to the guy who doesn't.

I find the whole 3x9 vs 2x10 vs 1x9 vs 1x10 vs 3x10 problem fascinating.... there are so many good arguments for each setup variation.

DG

 

[gvs_nz]

I use the e.thirteen XCX Cross Country and Cyclecross Top Guide which is similar to the MRP 1. No rubbing over the range of a 9 spd cassette.

 

[cru_jones]

Running 1x9 with a E13 XCX, SRAM PG990 cassette and E13 XC crankset with 36T FSA DH chainring. Works like it should, nothing magical but it's functional. Took a few on-offs to get the position right, and I still have some rubbing in the bottom 2-3 gears in order to not have rubbing in the 34T but it's barely noticeable. I may play with a few of the 0.5mm spacers that came with it to see if I can dial it out.

I was running a N-Gear Jumpstop and Blackspire bash guard, but on some really rocky sections of my last race I had two chain drops that cost me a few places. I had been running this combo for the last few months without a drop, so I'm not sure what exactly caused it. Either way, I think the XCX will do the trick.

Overall E13's stuff seems pretty good. The XC crankset installs well and seems very well made, so I'll probably try their chainring next go around.