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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What is your definition of superior? I run a 44/9-42. It has a higher top end than a 53/11 and and lower bottom end then a 34/32.
The gear jumps don’t bother me. I guess that’s where everyone differs.
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I guess this is the answer for my original question. Either I care or don’t care about the gear jumps.
I’m pretty sure I don’t care, maybe even don’t even notice or think about the jumps too much. And I’ve been riding around on 52/11-32 all summer so I can get better gear range in exchange for a few more/larger jumps in gearing if I switch (or go 1x when I purchase a new bike).
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As an amateur, it’s great to train at different cadences. You should be able to produce power at least from 70 to 100 rpms without too much difficulty. My next bike will have 48 front and 10-36 cassette.
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great topic!
I’m currently running 34-50 cranks paired with 11-34 cassete on my gravel bike and I’m planning on converting it to 1x system with a mullet sram axs groupset. the new AXS rival make it more affordable… same with the Sram GX1 Eagle AXS rear derraiileur.
my initial plan was to put a 46T wolf chainring, but I’ve now decided to use 44T instead. tbh I’m thorn between 42T and 44T chainring 
. on my road bike I’m running 36-52, which I haven’t made up my mind yet if I should switch to 1x too.
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i’m in the same boat (44T or 42T). Part of me is thinking i could do the 44T and get a 10-52 just for sake of it. Although i haven’t really checked the gearing to see if that’d work for me or if i should do a 42T 10-44.
either way, most of the stuff is out of stock so i have some time to figure it out 
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Rocking a 1x with a 48t and 11-32 cassette in Colorado. Perfect for flattish racing and the foothills / reservoirs in the Front Range. Not ideal for climbing. Usually after a hour of climbing at 60rpm or so, I’m cooked.
It’s possible to get up the bigger passes this way, but it’s not fast. See State Bicycle’s ‘Climbing up a Mountain on a Fixie with a Pro’ to imagine how that looks. I often turn down group rides in the mountains because it’s just too slow. Really need to go up them at my own pace, so that stinks sometimes.
Philly area has hills for sure. I’d keep the 2x. Also, it can be better from a drivetrain efficiency side for racing. You definitely would want a 2x in Manayunk 
. In South Jersey, I would have no qualms about ditching the 2x and would probably be rocking a 50t or 52t chainring.
Nice to hear some local knowledge. Manayunk is pretty steep for sure, I’ve been doing it with my big ring only bit I think you’ve hit on the main problem: After about an hour of hills at 60rpm my legs can get pretty shot. Endurance rides have to pretty much avoid hills for me to keep the watts low enough.
But like another poster said, lack of availability of parts means I have plenty of time to bounce this around in my brain 
South Jersey hills are called bridges I think.
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When I visit home and ride, I’ll usually rip up over the bridges over the inlets. 10s later I’m thinking “oh, that was over fast”
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I’ve five bikes, only one of which, the road bike, has a 2x drivetrain. So you could say I’m a 1x fanboi. However as noted above, it really depends on your local area and riding style and preferences. I’m not sure I’d go 1x with my road bike as our local roads are very lumpy even on the “flat” bits. 15m of climbing per kilometre is normal and I can do rides with 30m/km.
IME clutch derailleurs aren’t necessary but a Narrow-Wide chainring is. I’ll often forget to engage the clutch (Shimano XT) on my MTB and it doesn’t make any difference. The one time I had to use a normal chainring I was dropping the chain every few minutes.
The argument about big jumps between gears doesn’t hold up. A single chainring usually sits between the sizes of a 2x chainset, i.e. for an MTB it’s 30T or 32T and a 2x has 36/24T. No-one moans about the jumps when in the big ring (36T) so why moan about them with a 32T where the effective jump is smaller? On road with a typical compact chainset there’s an effective 2 1/2 gears between the two chainrings, i.e. to get the same gear when changing at the front you’d have to shift 2 1/2 gears at the back. That means to go up or down just one ratio with a front shift you have to: shift the front; shift at least twice at the back. In some cases you need four shifts at the back! 2x setups are really good for just dropping a lot of range - you are on the flat and come to a steep hill, dropping to the small ring will get you most of the way there.
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I’ve always struggled with a 2x setup. I am not and never was a strong rider, prefer spinning so when I first started 52/42 was the standard and the inner ring was used more often.
Usually I would get onto the big ring to only slow down shortly after and need to drop down again.
This pattern repeated when I went 53/39. It always felt the gears I needed most were the ones on either side of a double shift.
I eventually went fixed wheel exclusively for years and after finding gears again, 1x felt perfect. No more trying to hold onto a gear just to prevent a double shift.
As I ride alone most of the time, I don’t worry about single tooth sprocket increments - the 2 tooth jumps of the higher end of a Shimano 11-42 work fine for me.
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Ive got 3 bikes, road cx and TT
Only the CX is 2x, mainly because it does triple duties as a climbing road, gravel and CX bikes. I only run traditional cross 46/36 chainrings, with an 11-32 cassette (11spd). Gives me great range for steep gravel climbs, and i can spin out to over 60kph if necessary on a group road ride.
Now I built the road bike as a crit racing bike, none of the crit courses here have any lumps of note, and a 50t w 11-32 even gets me up decent hills if needed. Could even go to a 52t probably. Stuck with 11-32 since im used to the jumps on that cassette anyway and gives me enough range for what I want
TT bike is an obvious choice for 1x IMO. Not many TT courses need a small ring (except the one i have coming up in a few weeks of course 
) and you get the aero benefits of 1x as well
Run a std wifli rear derailleur on the TT with 54t nw chainring, never even come close to dropping a chain. I did go the clutched RD on the road bike, just because i had the option, works great as you would expect (also a nw chainring)
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With SRAM’s 360 % cassette, I think you can ride in mountainous terrain no problems. The only thing is that the gearing is slightly on the sporty side, i. e. with the 42-tooth chain ring I am missing my 34:32. But my easiest gear, 42:36 = 1.17, is easier than 34:28 = 1.22, so it is still alright.
Even when I rode 2x on my previous road bike, I‘d always stay in the big chain ring on undulating terrain, though. Especially on undulating terrain, having to change chain rings would drive me up the wall.
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end up pulling the pin on a 46T chainring instead of 44T. I’ll pair it with a 10-51 cassete on the gravel bike so I can still use it on the road. I can always get smaller chainrings later. should offer similar range to my 34-50 and 11-34 combo. slight easier gears as well. 
hopefully I won’t regret myself.
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curious to see how you like the 46T as i’m in a similar boat and still trying to decide what to get (or what’s available in stock).
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It’s the jumps on the cassette that I’m referring to. Nothing to do with what chainring I’m in, but a wide-range cassette has big jumps between cogs. If you can get away with the smaller range of 1x and a typical road cassette like 11-34, clearly the jumps are the same as 2x. But I need the range of 10-44 minimally, 9-46 ideally. So it’s sometimes hard to find the perfect gear for the cadence I’d prefer to ride at.
Have you looked at Campy Ekar? They have a 10-44, 9-42, and 9-36 13 speed cassette. Paired with 38, 40 and 42 tooth chainrings gives you lots of options.
I run the 40t chainring and have all three cassettes. 9-36 for most road, 9-42 for mountain rides and easier gravel, 10-42 for tougher gravel.
Works really well for me
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Yeah, Ekar is super impressive. Just wish they had a 9-46 (it’s steep here).