Thanks for the detailed response! I agree that my 52/11 is mostly used when I feel like hitting it on downhill sections, so it’s worth considering how much it is needed.
I should have mentioned but I actually do have a stam cassette. My current setup is force 22.
Clearly I’m going to need to jump into the gear calculator and play around a bit!
I totally relate to this!
Not sure if my mechanical skills are poor or it’s impossible to really dial in the front derailleur but I don’t like the act of switching, the risk of dropping the chain occasionally, or the noise it can make.
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I do ride the hills. I go through manayunk almost every ride and often do hill rides in gladwyne. I’m not saying there aren’t times when my 36/32 would make sense to use, but I am noticing that I tend to stand up and grind instead of switching to smaller ring.
So is my current use of my gears making me do threshold efforts when I’d be better off doing tempo up hills on long rides? Like maybe I’m just hitting the hills harder than I should for pacing long rides and if I actually used my small ring I’d be better distributing my energy?
I would say that since you have the choice now, you are riding how you like to ride. When I had two chain rings, I’d often use 50:28 or even 50:32 to muscle up shorter hills and inclines, just because I’d prefer doing that. So IMHO you should optimize your bike for your riding style. And gear-wise, from everything you told us, you simply don’t need a front derailleur.
Since you are on Force 22, I think you are in luck and the conversion is as easy as I said. Take off your front derailleur, your two chain rings and put on a single 1x-specific chain ring. Just make sure to get a 1x chain ring that fits your crankset. If you want to go the extra mile, you could get a Force 1, Rival 1 or even Apex 1 rear derailleur with a clutch. A Rival 1 rear derailleur seems to cost about $100 these days. This way you could use a larger cassette (e. g. 11-36 or 11-42). And no worries, the shift quality is determined by the mechanism in the shifters, so going with Rival won’t be a downgrade.
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I’d love to hear what you ordered and your wheelset/cassette choices if you don’t mind sharing!
Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, the clutched rear mech is a 1x thing? I thought it was a mtb thing due to the violence the drivetrain needs to endure. I don’t drop the chain now just keeping to my 52, but maybe the front der is doing something to retain it? I guess I might just pop off the small ring and front der and see if I regret it before I commit to more!
I’ve ordered a ridley Kanzo Fast that comes with a 38T chainring and a 9-42T cassette as standard. I’ll probably keep that as my “gravel” setup and order a bigger chainring and 9-36T cassette for road.
I want to get some riding in before a make a final decision because looking and the ekar cassette prices it would be an expensive mistake 
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Very cool choice, that bike looks amazing. Do you plan on doing fast group rides on it once you get the road wheels/cassette?
No and yes. Shimano has clutched rear derailleurs for some of its 2x road group sets and SRAM has it on all of its eTap AXS group sets that can be used 1x and 2x. But it is more necessary on 1x, because of the larger cassette, which necessitates a longer chain. And you don’t have a rear mech keeping your chain in line.
I don’t think it is necessary, but if I rode over rougher roads, I’d definitely want to have one.
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As fast as I can 
I plan on it being my winter road bike and gravel bike. I will keep my pure road bike for the bulk of my fast road rides.
i run 1x on my roadbike.
46t chainring with a 11-40 cassette.
46/11 is about equivalent to 52/12
46/40 is about equivalent to 36/31
Works fine for just touring, but also use it for crit racing.
I have 1x on my CX, MTB and roadbike and intend to never have a front derailleur again. but YMMV.
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So you don’t miss the gears that fill in the gaps (so to speak)? Seems like that’s the only concern left based on the range of gears you’re getting.
Thanks
I barely use my inside ring (also a 52/36 user but with an 11-28 cassette, on my road bike at least) and being a lighter rider I could probably survive without it on the terrain I ride here, if I widened the cassette ratio it would probably be ok for hillier terrain too. I wouldn’t go 1x though as I prefer having the inner ring there for those one offs and prefer a tighter spaced cassette (11-28 already has too wide gaps sometimes).
On my TT bike I did think about it though, and the marginal gains (a 53/39 chainring with an 11-25 cassette), as I am never out of the large ring during a race (I wouldn’t risk a chain drop changing down tbh). However, I’ll use the inside ring for training so haven’t went 1x there either.
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I went out of my way to put a 2X shimano drive train on my gravel bike as I primarily ride roads to get to the gravel. I would only consider 1X on a drop bar bike if I was racing full on CX. 2X is superior in everyway otherwise, IMVHO. But, I live in the mountains and I like 90 RPM pedaling.
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Do I have a few bikes running 1x, yes.
Would I go out of my way to build or change a 2x setup to 1x, no.
Quite happy riding and doing some racing with a 46x 11-36 setup. It tends to shine on my more casual gravel/commuting setup [38x 11-40]. The best road bike has 2x and no reason to change that, never know when you may get a chance to ride in the mountains.
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I’ve been riding and racing on a 1x for most of this year due to a dent in my allez seat stay back in June and didn’t want to chance it.
My cx bike has served triple duty. I took off 42, put a 50t ring on up front and was using the 11-32 no problem. Recently put a 11-36 in the back with the 50 up front for a hilly road race and loved it. Luckily I have three wheel sets - one cx set up, one road race, another gravel all with 11-32 cassettes.
I have had four or five top tens in crits this summer on this setup, two podiums, and a did fairly well at steamboat gravel on this.
Not once did I think, ‘Gosh, I wish I had more top end’. Not ideal, but it works. I’ll be at Gateway on this setup too. I do wish to have another road bike, probably another sprint or whatever I can find that has some slight aero benefits instead of the cx bike 
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1x for gravel, 2x for road
1x because it is much easier to clean and I’ve yet to need extra gears and I ride hilly gravel mixed in with bits on the road but with fatter tyres the extra speed is often absorbed by the tyres.
Another 1x road devotee here. I’ll echo the suggestions above about looking at your ride data and https://www.gear-calculator.com/ to figure out gearing options that will work. I looked at my cadence on local climbs and flat segments and settled on 42x11-36, which gives me the same range I had with 2x minus the highest two ratios which I never used (50x11 and 50x12). For me, the gaps in SRAM’s 11-36 cassette are fine.
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I don’t think this is an argument against 1x anymore. I live near mountains and my 10-36 1x setup works fine for that. My easiest gear (42:36 = 1.18), i. e. easier than 34:28 = 1.21 and I spin out at 65 km/h in 42:10 = 4.20 = 50:12.
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No, yes, sometimes i do miss a 12t cog between the 13 and 11, but, meh., Yes i have a preferred cadence, but anything between 80 and 110 is fine.
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