1x12 conversion

[doctor-bond]

What’s the advantage of 1x11, etc? Weight saving I’m guessing? But the range vs 3x seems odd: vs a 26, 38, 48 x 11-32 you must lose loads of gear inches at the fast end and gain a handful at the slow end. 26 x 32 is barely walking pace as it is.

 

[Cloverleaf]

What’s the advantage of 1x11, etc? Weight saving I’m guessing? But the range vs 3x seems odd: vs a 26, 38, 48 x 11-32 you must lose loads of gear inches at the fast end and gain a handful at the slow end. 26 x 32 is barely walking pace as it is.

Depends what size chainring you use really, especially with 11spd. Personally I love the 1x setup and have been doing it for years, albeit my legs were a lot stronger when I was running 11-34 for it on 9spd. My Stiffee has an 11-46 cassette and 38T ring, and it's absolutely fine. On a light bike it's all you need at the bottom end, and while you give away a little at the top compared to a compact setup 42/44T ring I don't ever really find myself spinning out because I don't really ride fast flat stuff like that (and when I was running 22/32/44 I never felt like I was missing out to a non-compact arrangement as you mention).

Advantages are modern clutch mechs to stop chain slap, the ability to run narrow/wide chainrings for less chain drop, ability to run a top guide if you ride really rough stuff, and simpler setup because you don't have three rings and a mech on the front. I'd also say that you really don't lose anything in terms of useable gear ratios, IMO, because you're not using all the ratios in each ring, and even some of those you are using are duplicated, or close to.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Landscape dictates necessary range.
If the range gets superwide just on the cassette, you need more gears to avoid nasty big jumps.

So you can get 11-42 8speed, but it's a bit horrible to use unless you're just doing a quick blast.

Remember how when freewheels were 5 speed 14-28, the introduction of double chainsets gave a half step between the gears, like 48/52!

So the demand for 1x has in part driven up the number of gears on the cassette to 12, even 13

 

[Monolith]

I ordered Tune hubs in 135 with an XD cassette body. Running outboard and square taper BB cranks with 1x chainrings. Shifting is fine.