Sram axs 1x for all things road

Those were calculated with a single shift from small to large chainring for each setup. I’ll get round to putting the tables up at some point.

Mike

If you open the link, you see a perfect illustration: I think what you mean (and correct me if I am wrong) is that you can get finer steps in the middle of the gear range by switching to the small chain ring. (Because then you can work in the range of the cassette where you have single cog jumps between gears.) Did I catch what you wanted to say or did I misunderstand you?

That’s right. It does require quite a shift at the back (12 to 17, or 4 gears) whilst changing at the front to get the small jump in ratio.

Mike

I can see your point, but most people I know (including myself) try to stay in the big chain ring for as long as possible and only reluctantly change chain ring. So I am not sure whether you have more than 14-15 gears in practice — especially when we are including mechanical group sets in our discussion.

Of course, you could say that you can program AXS to do that for you automatically, and I’d have to say, you have a point. I don’t know what that’s like, I have never tried that. The Di2-equipped bikes I was able to test ride were set to full manual and had automatic chain ring shifting disabled. Do you have any experience with that?

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It’s a fair enough point - when I made the graphs I looked for the front chain ring change that gave the highest number of gears.

Something to learn from that though - if you want closer gears for longer stay in the little ring.

Mike

I ride a 1x on my mtb and almost never notice it. The constant changes in and out of the saddle cover it up 99% of the time.

On my gravel bike, I REALLY notice the 1x on flat sections. Especially on pavement when someone starts to push the pace.

I couldn’t do it on a roadie. I don’t even like the jump from 23->25. If I could have a cassette with every gear from 12-28, I would take it, so mark me down for whoever develops a 17 cog cassette. :joy:

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you can indeed have 18 distinct speeds — with a Pinion gear box. :wink:

But seriously, most new road cassettes nowadays follow the example that e. g. Rotor set with its 11-28 11-speed cassette: have as many closely spaced sprockets at the top and accept larger jumps in the rear. Now SRAM is doing the same and only Shimano is sticking to its guns — or it is as conservative as it has always been.

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Back in my day, we rode a 52/42 with a 6-speed 13-25 - and we liked it!

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I still ride a 53/39 and just made the move to 11-28 out back (from 25) to get better climbing gears… seems I’m doing it all wrong:)

I raced a hilly race last season and a guy showed up on a one-by drive chain. He hung in fine on the climbs but he got dropped from the lead group on the descents. Don’t know what ratios he had setup but if you’re doing extended downhill distances you may be hurting for gears

I’ve met the Chapter 2 rep here in Japan, an ex pro MTBer and road racer. He used a 40-tooth chain ring on the front and a 11-32 cassette in the back and placed 2nd or 3rd in the race I met him. He claimed because of his background in BMX (and because I assume he is just good) he is able to pedal at crazy high cadence.

I don’t think I’d be able to do that and probably I’d want more range. But it can work for some.

Did he catch back on each time?

No, he got dropped on the first long descent and that was the last I saw of him

I’ve been running the RED AXS 1x 12-speed for the last season in Norway (quite hilly country) both for training and racing. Will never return to a 2x system. I run 44 or 40 up front (depends on the race profile), and 10-33 in the back. The system is pretty much identical in gear ratio to a 2x11 50/34 11-28 setup, with similar spacing between the gears as well (but no overlaps (which is a huge area for the 2x system)). I loose a tiny bit in one end (either climbing or top speed), which is why I swap the chain ring depending on course. 44T for the most parts, but 40T if the course has major sustained climbs, or decisive very steep (20%+) climbs.

With the Enve 5.6 Disc wheelset, the bike stands race ready with two bottles in the cages (but without water in them) at 7.50kg. It dips below 7.0kg in “shop weight” if I remove the pedals, bideons and bideon holders. I absolutely love this beast.

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Watched the VC video about is 1x Aeroad and I just love, love, LOVE the aesthetic of 1x with a mullet setup on the aero bike.

Has anyone else ever tried this? I know it may not be fully optimal in terms of chainline but I feel like that is a small loss? For me this might be worth switchging to SRAM for.

image

Edit: The video link if anyone is interest in watching

VC 1x Aeroad

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I have been running a 1x12 SRAM setup since April last year, and I love it as much as I thought I would. I have a 42-tooth chainring and run a 10–36 cassette in the rear. I ride everything from pancake flat terrain to alpine climbs. If I were only riding alpine climbs, I’d have opted for a smaller chainring. Or a larger cassette. (Although at the time I ordered the bike, XPLR rear derailleurs and the 10–44 cassettes had yet to be released.)

My advice: go for the XPLR rear derailleur and either run a 10–36 or 10–44 cassette.

The 10–36 cassette is a road cassette. It feels identical to my 11-32 cassette in terms of steps between gears, except that I have an additional gear. For almost all riding, the gear range and gear ratios are completely sufficient. My 42:10 gear is mostly used as an overdrive gear, i. e. I engage it when my bike points downhill. And then I could use a larger gear in theory, but in practice, it is fine. As a matter of principle, I don’t try for downhill KOMs, and if my speed exceeds 60–65 km/h (= max speed when pedaling) I probably don’t care if I could be a tad faster. I’m riding on public roads after all.

42:36 = 1.17 is easier than 34:28 = 1.22, so if you currently run a compact crank and an 11–28 cassette, you can replicate that with a 44-tooth chainring and a 10–36 cassette. If you need more climbing gears, you should either get a smaller chainring (e. g. 40- or 38-teeth) or the 10–44 XPLR cassette. I haven’t ridden the latter. The gear ratios offered are fine, except when I do very steep, sustained climbs in Z2. Then I really wish for another gear.

I really love the feel and look. Shifting is always fast and never disruptive. Shifting speed is great. I’ve also tried 11-speed Di2, and I couldn’t tell that rear shifts were meaningfully faster with Shimano. I love the brakes, the hood shape and the ergonomics. Oh, and the native Quarq DZero powermeter has been bombproof, unless the battery ran out (happened only once, and I replaced the battery at the next rest stop), I never had dropouts, power/cadence number weirdness. Rock solid. I’m a big fan.

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I agree with @OreoCookie.

I have AXS XPLR on my gravel/Audax bike, with a 42t up front. For fast road riding it’s a touch under geared and as a result the chain line probably isn’t optimal but that is my only complaint. The 44 cog only gets used on the road on the 16-20% ramps you sometimes find in the Chilterns but it does get used on gravel.

I also agree that if the rear shifting is slower than Shimano, you can’t tell - and I have Di2 on my fast road bike. The ergonomics of AXS are also way better IMO and the app is brilliant.

I am very seriously considering the same setup but with a 44 up front on my next road bike, and if there was a 10-42 cassette I’d almost certainly do it.

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I’d really like SRAM to make a 10–39 cassette: Rotor makes a cassette like that, the gearing is identical to SRAM’s 10–33 cassette, it just has an extra 13th cog with 39 teeth. SRAM could make that into a 12-speed cassette by omitting one of the closely spaced cogs at the top end. I’d buy that cassette in a heart beat.

I definitely feel you on the steep kickers, you’d definitely do better with having another sub-1-to-1 gear. But still, at least where I ride these are far and few between.

Overall, my opinion on 1x12 on drop bar bikes is roughly the same as 1x11 on mountain bike: it makes 1x an option for a broad segment of the market. Adding another cog would basically seal the deal for me.

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For me, the only real downside to 1x is the larger gear jumps. I used to be pretty sensitive to gear jumps and I’d swap between 2x AXS and 1x Eagle on my gravel bike (depending on course). But now, my gravel bike is only 1x now because the gear jumps don’t bother me any more from riding the 1x setup so much (MTB, Gravel, and road). I honestly think it’s made me a little stronger rider being less of a cadence diva. Now I just switch between 1x w/ road gearing and Eagle depending on how much gearing I need.

I think the “spinning out” issue is a bit overplayed. Yeah, I guess it’s nice to always be in a comfortable gear, but I have no issues hanging on a fast group ride with a 42 -10 as my tallest gear. I used to race gravel on my mtb with a 38 - 10 and there were times I was spinning like crazy, but I never got dropped due to gearing and I’m generally riding at the pointy end (at least for age group). I’m not ready to give up 2x on my road race bike, but I’m pretty much always on my 1x gravel setup for group rides just because it’s a more comfortable ride. I’ve got it set up with 42 and 10-50 Eagle right now because that’s my planned setup for Unbound in June, so it’s likely be be my road and gravel setup for the next 5 months as well. There are definitely courses where a 44 chainring would be better, but I share waxed chains with my MTB and the 44 chainring would require me to buy more chains for the longer length. I’ve already got 2 sizes of Eagle chains to manage, I’m trying to avoid adding a 3rd.

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My groad bike is 1x with a 40t chainring and I’ve recently installed a 9-50 cassette from E*Thirteen and previously used the Eagle 10-50. The range on the new cassette allows me to keep up with my local group on road bikes but there are times in a fast peloton when the jump in gears makes my cadence either grind in the 75-80 range or spin at 100+.

My road bike has DA 2x and obviously that’s much smoother. However when traveling I pack a bike in a bag that requires a bit of breakdown of the components and I’ve vowed to never bring a Di2 bike again. I had a major headache once when flying where a Di2 cable got disconnected somewhere in the frame and I didn’t have enough tools to take out my bottom bracket in the hotel to find the culprit. So now I travel with my SRAM 1x bike and it’s been a helluva lot more convenient.

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