1x vs 2x on gravel bike

Equipment
42

That depends very much on where you live. Gravel riding ≠ gravel riding. In the Bavarian mountains you don’t need to ride very far until you are in a forest or on a gravel road. In Japan, you often do need to ride for 10s of kilometers until you reach a suitable trail head, and many people use gravel bikes to continue riding roads that are no longer/hardly maintained and have become impassable on road tires because of things like mud slides and the like. So YMMV.

10-tooth cogs work just fine (also on 2x, by the way), and I’ll gladly take larger range over a few watts of efficiency. Are larger cogs more efficient? Yes, but those are minimal gains and things like body position and tight-fitting clothes have a much larger impact on efficiency than larger cogs.

43

I reckon that many (most) people don’t like shifting in the front. Most roadies (and most of those run 2x) I know prefer to stay in the big ring and cross chain big-big (or at least big-second biggest cog) rather than shifting down in the front. In my experience that is true for people riding more entry-level bikes up until those who paid a for Shimano Di2 or SRAM eTap drive train. Have you made different experiences here?

We can speculate on the reasons, but I think for most it is a combination of the disruptive nature of front shifts (especially shifting from the small into the big ring, you need to let off power) and gear feel (when I ran 2x on my road bike and 3x on my mountain bike, I very much preferred the feel of the larger chain ring gear combos when comparing equivalent gear ratios). Plus, when you are on mechanical, front shifting is arguably more difficult than in the rear. I can very much say that I always stayed in my big chain ring for as long as I could and instead put a larger cassette in the rear.

Especially on a gravel ride with small undulations, I can see cases where you land in the no man’s land of gear ratios where you are “in between” large and small chain ring.

3 Likes
44

I ALSO like not having to maintain an FD.
I have several 2x bikes I haven’t had to do any maintenance on the FD on in years. YMMV.

One time at band camp… I mean during a CX race, on a 2x system, I crashed. I ruined my rear shifter. I still had a 2spd bike because the front was still working. Kinda cool on a short race loop… way more versatile on a longer further flung course…

I’ve got a 1x cx bike now (OEM spec, still), but for general purpose/versatility and gravel, I’d always prefer 2x… 1x has a small advantage in CX racing, particularly if a pit bike is available, but versatility is hard to beat with a 2x.

45

General question about CX, why do MvdP and WvA ride 2x? Just because of sponsorship by Shimano? I would have thought these muddy, technical conditions are poster use cases for 1x.

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46

Quite likely. In the past I have seen Shimano-sponsored CX athletes to opt for a 53/39 chainset and have the chain permanently affixed to the small chain ring. I don’t remember exactly, but perhaps the teeth of the 53-tooth chain ring were surgically removed to prevent accidents.

I haven’t checked in years, but is Shimano’s official CX solution still a 46/36 2x crankset?

47

So I was in a similar boat to you about which bike but not about 1x or 2x.

Been riding 3 years now SRAM mechanical 1x11, 10-42 came as standard. Done hoards of multi day adventures and one day races (Milers mostly).

Have drafted in 38, 40 and 46 chainrings to the mix of options, course, terrain and profile dependent. Recently (January) ‘upgraded’ rear cassette to eThirteen 9-46 and was stunned at the extra ‘gearing’ it gave me.

3 weeks back I was bike jacked so have been looking at what to get.

The genre of gravel is split into discreetly two camps, pure racing and adventuring. My bike I made work between the two but always felt limited to tyre width, max was 47x700c. That was my biggest bug bear.

Sitting looking at four options, Cannondale Super Six Evo SE (as the CX is restricted by tyre width), Canyon Grizl CF SL7 eTap, Curve GMX+ and the Lauf Seigla Race Wireless.

Canned the SE as I didn’t think I ever needed 2x, there were times I may have wanted 2x but never needed it. Probably more times I was grateful having had 1x than 2x based on usage.

Canned the SL7 based on tyre width and canned the Curve as I felt it lent more towards adventuring than being nimble when wanting to race.

Waiting on insurance claim to payout and will order the Lauf, the big deciding factor was the huge tyre width it can take, totally fine that it is 1x with 10-44, although I will be adding a mullet 10-52 to the setup with an extra GRX deraileur for those rides that I will feel it will be needed, and then comfortably throw in 57mm rubber.

I steered away from a 2x (for the next bike) as I never felt I was taking a knife to a gun fight from my original set up as I had options with the extra chainrings, and simple to install, change chain depending on ring size and setting the B screw was never an issue.

48

You have to be joking. Changing parts and futzing with your rear derailleur just to avoid the horror of changing gears with your left hand.

1 Like
49

“Be excellent to each other”

3 Likes
50

Yeah, I’m finding the Lauf Seigla kinda compelling myself. While I find the simplicity of 1x pretty appealing, the tire options it opens up are an even bigger deal. I live in northern New England and the normal routes out of my house are typically 5% or less on pavement, with a solid majority on rough washboard gravel. I’m running either 650Bx2.0 or 700x45 now, and it seems like something bigger would be a pretty significant improvement.

1 Like
51

You have to be joking to jump to conclusions. A 160k race with 900vm doesnt require the same gearing as a 160k race with +3000vm and some climbs averaging 12% for 3km and hitting 17 degrees. Why would you not optimise your gearing for specific events?

No horror of changing gears, only horror is having the incorrect gearing.

Must we all bow down to you and ride 2x? Why can you not accept others can have a different opinion than yourself?

If you dont understand the metaphor, then ask, but there has never been a need where I wished I had a 2x. Got nothing to do with having to use my left hand. Go use your left hand elsewhere if you cant be nice.

2 Likes
52

As others have pointed out, the answer goes to ‘it depends’ and instead of having hybrid hardtail MTB with drop bars for the adventuring, the Siegla covers that with the allowance of 2.1 tyres. Comes standard with 40mm x700c so going narrower will work if you negate aesthetics.

I have used my wife’s 2x gravel bike as back twice on multi day adventures due to poor line choice on my previous bike, and never did I feel hey I have been missing something by being able to change gears with my left hand. In fact, I had to focus more on not cross-chaining (as pointed out above) and felt inefficient having another option up front for gearing. The 'larger’gapr on a 1x cassttte has never been an issue for me.

But yeah, that new Lauf Siegla gives one options.

53

I have the true grit and love it. The fork is terrific as are the smoothie bars although I wish they had a shallower drop. With my redshift sports shock stop seatpost the ride is comfy. But I’m curious to hear reviews of the Seigla and how much difference the flex in the back makes.

I’m happy with the true grit but would like the electronic shifting. I plan on asking my LBS, once supply is more readily available which might be next year, what the cost would be including labor to upgrade my true grit upgraded.

54

I am looking at the rigid version of the Siegla and will use a Redshift Shock Stem as I did on my previous bike.

Have nothing against the Lauf forks, or the XPLR forks for that matter, just enjoy the vibration dampening if offers at a fraction of the weight.

A ton of chaps with the True Grit mostly raise the rear end flex matter. Really bad and stiff with the TG?

55

No worse than other bikes IMO just when the front end feels so toned down you notice that the tail end is a bit harsh. In reality, it’s really when I hit the 4 hour mark on a gravel ride is when I notice lower back issues if I don’t have the redshift sports seatpost on there. I’m not a fan of the redshift sports seatpost looks but it does save my back on long rides.

1 Like
56

I have used the XPLR sus fork and really didn’t perceive it as an upgrade at all, if your bike supports 650b.
A 650 tire, at least for me, can add a lot of damping compared to 700x42c, but also increases traction and control.
The sus fork felt pretty heavy and obviously is as un aero as they come.

57

57mm tires? A person of class I see :face_with_monocle:

I can’t see going back to skinnier tires after running 29x2.2 on my Cutthroat.

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58

That’s funny, I can’t see myself going back to MTB tires after trading my Cutthroat for a Warbird! Horses for Courses! When I started the Cutthroat was great, gave me the confidence I needed. Now? You’d have to pry by 38’s from my cold dead hands! LOL

2 Likes
59

Is there any reason most bikes that are sram seem to be only 1x whereas almost everything in shimano has the option?

For the price difference, it seems to make more sense to go with rival or force axs and swap chainrings if needed? I have gx axs on my mtb so can always “borrow” that in a pinch

After my long search, I’m really leaning towards a Lauf Seigla. Not seeing much coming close to the price per spec as they are.

2 Likes
60

I’m not sure why some bike manufacturers only offer sram in 1x. In the case of Lauf, they’ve made it clear they’re all in on 1x being the solution for their bikes.

To me, the rival axs seems like a great deal and I’m looking to upgrade my lauf tru grit to it.

1 Like
61

Isn’t it reversed? I think you have way more 1x and 2x options with SRAM than Shimano.

Shimano

  • 2x11 options: 46/30 and 48/31 cranksets coupled to 11-34 cassette (of course, you can use any 11-speed cassette with smaller range, too)
  • 1x11 options: 42- and 40-tooth chainrings coupled to 11-42 cassette (again, cassettes with smaller range will work, too).
  • 11-speed Di2 mullet option (which gives you slightly more range with the 11-46 cassette)
  • Unsupported options: e. g. I know that you can use the 2x crank with an 11-40 cassette, for example.
  • Lowest officially supported climbing gear is 30/34 = 0.88, 40:42 = 0.95 on 1x, 40/46 = 0.87 on a mullet setup

SRAM

  • 2x options: all road chain ring combinations and a 43/30 gravel-specific option is supported. You can use any cassette up to 10-36.
  • 1x options: all chain rings sizes work from 38-tooth to 54-tooth. (I reckon some options are academic.) Cassettes range up until 10-44
  • Mullet setup fully supported with 10-50 and 10-52 cassette options.
  • Lowest climbing gear: 30/36 = 0.83 or 38/44 = 0.86; 38/52 = 0.73 on a mullet setup