They’re referring to OEM spec options. I’ve seen the same thing: you can get most gravel bikes with GRX 1x or 2x, but usually I only see SRAM 1x specced. My guess is 1x is a better seller, and within SRAM the bike companies are more likely to differentiate spec choice between Rival and Force. I guess GRX has Di2 as a higher end option too. But yeah it seems you rarely see SRAM 2x as an OEM spec.
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Mmm. I think this is wrong. My bike came with 50/34, 11-34 for a 1.00 ratio.
They make a 46/30 as @OreoCookie mentioned
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If you have a 50/34 crank, then you have a road crank (e. g. Ultegra), but not a GRX crank. The smallest GRX 2x crank is the 46/30 I mentioned.
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Sorry to clarify, I realize they make sram in 2x, was referring to how bike oems are selling them.
Ah, ok, sorry I misunderstood you.
I reckon the reason might be that SRAM’s 1x offerings, especially its Rival eTap AXS groupsets are just that much better than Shimano’s 1x gravel offering. But to have multiple sources for parts, they rely on Shimano for 2x. That’s just a guess on my part.
I think its more the industry will guide us where they want us. The tin hat in me wants to believe its cheaper for them to produce and sell at better margins
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1x for Insta. 2x for riding.
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1x becomes much more compelling with 12spd
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1x feels more like riding an MTB for me. 2x is closer to a road bike.
43/30 10-36 is really really good for me. Super small
Jumps on the fast end, big enough jumps on the low end for quick changes in grade.
Also. Shifting on the front also makes up for the very big jumps you might need sometimes.
That’s why I have the gears shifted sequentially (so you basically have a 1x15 or so), and then have the FD shift without compensation shifting, for the trial like stuff.
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Yeah, and once drivetrains sport 13 gears, I think you have sufficient gears for main stream use.
Tbh, it might be availability and not being able to use a 1x specific chainring causing them to need the FD as a chain catcher. You can shift your chain back on without stopping this way. They almost never leave the 46t (or whatever large ring they have on). I just spent a season racing on a 46t 11-40 and it was great but the mud clearance on a 46t isn’t the best. This season I’ll probably size down and swap the chainrings when necessary. The Euro cx courses are much more wide open and faster. Here in the states, we race in tighter city parks and there isn’t a whole lot of room to let to the 46t roll.
For Gravel, I ran the same chainring with a larger cassette and I can say this for faster gravel races: 1x only make sense if you have larger tires. Stretching out the bottom end of the gearing range is much harder if you are on <38mm tires. I tend to try and stay of the 11t regardless of road or cx/gravel but it happens more in this configuration. Also with 1x and curly bar offroad racing, your setup better be exactly right when its go time. If you don’t have full access to the entire range when things get dirty, you’re gonna have a bad time.
I mean, Campagnolo already does that. I think 1x still has its limitations.
Campa solves that through a 9t cog, but I really don’t like that. It’s inefficient, it’s loud, and it wears chain and cassette down rapidly.
I think a perfect groupset needs a top end gear above 4:1, a low end gear at or below 0.9:1, and at least 2 single tooth jumps on the low end.
I‘d probably need 14 cogs to REALLY substitute a 2x.
42 in the front and 10-11-12-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-37-42-48.
That’d be about as good as SRAM force/ Rival Wide.
Best gear set in the market, for me is:
SRAM RED eTap AXS
SRAM RED Power Meter Crankset 46/33 T
CASSETTE SRAM FORCE XG1270 10-36
I’ve just gone from 1x to 2x on my gravel rig as I was missing some of the lower gears, caveat being I’m still running a standard freehub so 11t is the smallest I can go. I’m on 46/36 with a 42-11 11s cassette and it’s great. Plenty of range for climbing but more than enough speed with the 46x11. My setup is a mashup of SRAM bits, with road shifters/front mech and a 2x10 GX rear mech, but it does the job just about (small to small doesn’t work but everything else does). I rode some pretty hectic trails a few weeks back and had no issues with chain drop thanks to the clutch mech and chain catcher so overall I’m happy. I doubt I’ll be going back to 1x any time soon.
Fantastic analysis. One fun thing to add, SRAM’s recommended b gap for the 10-36 is a few mm larger than their recommendation for the 10-44 cassette. It works out that the 10-36 shifts flawlessly when the rear derailleur is adjusted for the 10-44. It makes it even easier to toss in a 10-44 for the hilly days of the year. Or use the 10-36 when you normally use a 10-44.
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Rotor has a 1x13 groupset, too, with the best cassette options (IMHO). Their cassettes start at 10-teeth cogs (or 11 for their 12-speed cassettes), they have a 10-36, 10-39, 10-46 and 10-52 — all with the same rear derailleur. IMHO their gear selection is the best on the market. I’d really like a 10-39 cassette. It has the same gearing as SRAM’s 10-33 cassette, just with a 39-tooth cog added to it at the top end.
Besides, in practice the tallest gear is an overdrive gear, so it won’t see much use. I don’t think cog size is an issue in practice.
I’m confused: GRX400 is a Tiagra-level 10-speed groupset, and SRAM has 1x11 groupsets that compete with it (Apex 1 and perhaps Rival 1). How is that a failure on SRAM’s part?
We can argue a bit that there is a gap in SRAM’s line-up pricewise between Rival eTap AXS and Rival 1, true. But price-wise that falls somewhere where GRX600 sits.
I agree that the SRAM road/gravel gearing is probably the best “everything” combo available. That said, I’d go with Force rather than Red for the crank/power meter. With the Force power meter crank/spider, you can swap out chainrings at will, including the flexibility to switch between 2x and 1x. With the red powermeter crank, the rings are integrated and can’t be swapped or replaced. You are replacing the entire power meter and crank once the chainrings are worn or if you damage a ring/tooth. I’m sure it’s a great crank and the integrated rings make it lighter, but I like to be able to swap out rings when needed and I still wouldn’t want to replace my power meter ever time I wear out my chainrings. SRAM does offer a 50% off replacement to the original owner for 5 years, but I just like the flexibility of the Force power meter spider. Very smartly designed in my opinion.
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I understand what you are saying, but I’m not as convinced that it is the GRX400 groupset where this matters. First of all, I think Shimano makes many more GRX400 groupsets than GRX800s, for example. However, the question to Shimano is which groupset makes them more money in aggregate: the higher-priced, lower volume GRX800 or the GRX400. I reckon that the economics here are much less clear, I reckon the 10-speed groupset has lower margins.
Now for SRAM: I think they made a decision to focus on the premium end of the market of electronic groupsets. You are right that SRAM has nothing to offer if you want an entry-level 2x gravel groupset. However, how opinionated are buyers in this category? Do you think the average buyer in that price brackets even understands the discussion? I personally don’t think so.
Where it might matter is the GRX600 2x, which is equivalent to 105. This is the first groupset that enthusiasts opt for, and SRAM has nothing that competes at this price point. But given SRAM’s position, I think this probably makes sense for them.
Lastly, I think we should not forget about availability. In a lot of cases it is not about what manufacturers ideally want, but what they can get. 3T, for example, is quite eclectic, and you can get Campag, Shimano 1x or 2x or SRAM on their Exploro. If you paid closer attention to their line-up over the last two years, you noticed quite a bit of flux, and they have seemingly moved away from SRAM at the lower end even though AFAIK Gerard Vroomen is a big fan and has close ties with SRAM.
I’d say this is generally true, because Shimano has a more than dominant market share in most (all?) countries. In many cases, you have to want a SRAM groupset to get one on your bike. And the default is Shimano and Shimano is a strong believer in 2x. Most people who buy a bike don’t know any better or care, and so you see what you see.
It is quite interesting to me, though, that even though I live in Shimano country, there has been a recent uptick in road bikes with SRAM eTap groupsets (all 2x except for mine). Not sure why.
PS Sorry about over-using bold. I was not trying to be aggressive, blame Shimano for their stupid naming scheme 
And with Shimano that compatibility is not automatic. I have an XTR M9100 groupset on my mountain bike, configured as 1x11. The 2x crank is virtually identical, except that it has a differently shaped notch so that users can’t swap between 1x and 2x without changing cranks. 
Even if few people swap parts, wouldn’t it be easier to keep just one crank in stock?