Don’t forget that jumps are going to be much bigger on the typical MTB chainring (~32-36) compared to what someone might choose for road (~46-50). As you grow your chainring, the jumps between cogs (as a percentage) get progressively smaller. Not saying they aren’t still noticeably larger than 2x setups, but it’s a very noticeable difference running 1x with a 34 vs. a 46 ring. I typically leave a 44 on my gravel bike when I’m training on the road and doing B/C gravel races, not because I need that high of gearing for most gravel races, but it’s low enough for gravel and still has plenty of top end for fast group rides. For rule of 3 and unbound, I’ll probably go with a 42. The gear jumps get a little more noticeable, but both of those races are beat downs and I ran a 44 last year for both and was looking for lower gears on some of the steep stuff.
For sure. I still hate it on road. Ran it on my gravel bike for 3-4 months because that’s what it came with. But I always hated it and swapped when I could afford to build up a 2x group. My gravel bike now is 50/34t and 11-36t but I might swap out to 52/36t. 1:1 is all I’ve ever needed. The only time I haven’t hated it for road is when I ran 54t and 11-30t. I could deal with those jumps because that’s what I’m used to with 2x. But it was for pan flat rides. Any hills and it became terrible. So I either get a bigger cassette and big jumps, or get a smaller chainring and spin out and/or lose speed. In the end, I just didn’t see any benefit to 1x. I have no doubt I can get the gearing I want with 1x or 2x. I just don’t see why I would choose 1x over 2x with the downsides it comes with. I also get that gear jumps aren’t annoying to everybody. So I see why a lot of people run it. It’s just not for me.
Yes, shifting chainrings is that hard for my smooth brian. (Joke)
That’s surprising. In my experience, off-road you have so many stochastic undulations that I find larger gaps between gears are actually helpful/not annoying and you need to be more forgiving when it comes to cadence.
On the roads climbs tend to be steadier and you can settle into a cadence and power output.
Haha. We actually had a joke saying or motto in our MTB group:
Smooth brains, rough terrains!
55 miles yesterday and didn’t shift once, clearly all derailleurs are bad.
As a single speed state champion I agree. We should all move to full ridged bikes made from steel with 1 gear. Lol