I'm looking for insight to see what others might have done to change out gearing for hill climbing.
I currently have a 42t chain ring, with 42 tooth cassette, living in the PNW, some of the hills can be long and steep, so I'm looking for insight on what anyone else has done to change up their gearing?
I have a Rival 1 drivetrain with the 10-42. It came with a 42T chainring like yours. I went down to a 38T, which gives me a low gear below 1:1. It's a very noticeable change, but when i'm climbing singletrack or something i'd still like to go lower. The reduction in top speed was also very noticeable, and the smaller chainring shifts the range of gears I use on the cassette. With the 38T I use the bottom of the cassette a lot on paved rides even though i'm not exactly a fast rider.
Is it the Apex 1 crankset with the asymmetric 4 bolt pattern? If yes, you're kinda screwed. It's not the same mounting as Shimano, and as far as I know people can't seem to find a chainring smaller than 40T for those cranks. Even Wolftooth only makes them in 40-42-44.
Other people will chime in, but with those cranks the only option I see is something like an 11-46 cassette. It's not supported officially, but i've seen people use them with this generation of RDs.
Yes, I have the asymmetric 4 bolt pattern crankset, you are correct so far I cannot find a smaller chain ring that fits, I guess I could swap out the crank set to a more standard one?
Sure, that's always an option. Rival 1 uses the 5 bolt 110BCD mounting which is pretty darn standard, and you can take off the spider and use direct mount rings. Your current BB would work too. But let's wait for some people to chime in, maybe i'm missing other options. 🙂
I was in the same predicament with my Apex 1 Warbird, as it also came with a 42t chainring, 11-42 cassette. I wanted lower gearing and didn't realize that the weird 4 bolt pattern would seriously limit my options. I ended up buying a used Force 1 crankset with a 38t chainring on eBay, with the same BB interface (GXP) for like $160 or so. The swap was super easy. Same BB as HollyBoni said.
I think it's worth swapping the crankset if you can swing it. Even if a 40t would be enough, it means investing in an inflexible and non-standard format. I'm super happy with the 38t (I don't miss the top speed at the high end at all), but I love knowing that I could easily get a different ring down to 34t with the spider (or even lower direct mount), if I was going loaded or some kind of crazy hill climb riding.
Rival would work just as well, though I was happy to shed a little weight with the carbon cranks. There is also the non-series SRAM S350 crankset, which can be found for a deal sometimes. I'm just not sure if you can remove the spider or not. Doesn't look like it from the picture.
Thanks both for the insight, seems like limited options, I think the crankset option might be less expensive than the 46t cassette, they are still costly!
Going to 11-46 is certainly a reasonable choice. I’ve read here as well that it can work. But I still like changing the crankset, as it doesn’t mean increasing any of the cog jumps. For my use, the bigger jumps of 1x are largely fine compared to 2x, but I wouldn’t want to increase any of them.
And I totally understand the pain of spending more money, after buying a costly bike. I wish bike brands would just stop using this crankset.
I have the S series 1x crank with the standard 5 bolt pattern that I just pulled off my bike in upgrading my crank. I’d be willing to sell it to you used.
MDAGravel wrote:Thanks both for the insight, seems like limited options, I think the crankset option might be less expensive than the 46t cassette, they are still costly!
If you have a Shimano driver, a Sunrace 11-46 costs about 50 bucks, and you need a new chain too. A brand new Rival 1 crankset will run you over a 100 I think.
They're different options tho. The 11-46 expands your range, but it also makes the steps between the gears bigger, and you're going outside of the factory specs for the RD.
The crankset with the smaller chainring simply lowers your low gear, but you loose the high end.
If you go the crankset route, personally i'd try to wait for a good used deal. Either a new take off, or a very slightly used one. (Personally I don't like to buy used chainrings, cassettes, chains)
Smaller gaps? The 11 speed 11-42 cassette is basically the 10 speed 11-36 cassette with a 42 added on for the 11th gear. Even the 11-46 goes 32-37-46 while your 10 speed goes 32-36. Even that one is near identical except for a big jump from the 37 to 46.
True but the Sunrace 11-46 goes 36-40-46 and gets the extra low gear by turning the 15-17-19-21 to 15-18-21. Going from 2-tooth to 3-tooth jumps in that range is pretty noticeable.
Gaps with the 27 chainring is what I like on the steep stuff. Almost 60 so gearing according to leg strength is what works for me. Especially on the single track trails around here.
dangle wrote:Smaller gaps? The 11 speed 11-42 cassette is basically the 10 speed 11-36 cassette with a 42 added on for the 11th gear. Even the 11-46 goes 32-37-46 while your 10 speed goes 32-36. Even that one is near identical except for a big jump from the 37 to 46.
Which such different chainrings/set I don't think it's enough to compare gaps by counting teeth. You will need to compare gear ratios.
What I see in the overview (moving from fastest gear to slower gear) is that the gaps on the 1x11 and the 2x10 speed are the same until the 21T sprocket (6th gear shift) then the next shift will be smaller on the 1x11. The next shift is about equal, then you need to take a large gap on the 2x10 when you change to the smaller chainring. From that point on, continuing from faster to slower gears, the gaps on the 2x10 will be smaller. So it really depends on your riding style and when you need smaller gaps versus accepting bigger gaps. Also, you can choose when to shift to the smaller chainring and you could also shift front an rear mech at the same time.
Are you sensitive about cadence in faster gears, or slower gears? Are you using slower gears more than faster gears? Are you willing to shift chainring and sprocket at the same shift to optimise for cadence (or gaps)? All things considered, not so straightforward I think!
mtbmitch wrote:Running an 11-36 xtr 10 speed cassette and a 27-40 up front. Live in Boise so lots of climbing around here. Like the smaller gaps in gearing.
To my understanding, the thread is about how to change the gearing specifically on an Apex 1 setup (title), because that's what the OP has, and as we discussed it's not that easy with Apex 1.
But yeah, I guess the answer could be to just change the entire groupset, and go to a 2x10 with an MTB crankset.
