Hello. I'm new to the Forum and I'm in the process of restoring an old Trek hybrid as my new gravel bike.
I was thinking about thinking about using a 1x10 setup with a Race Face Narrow Wide 38T chain ring up front and possibly a Sunrace 10 spd cassette in 11-40T or 11-42T in the rear.
Any thoughts on the 11-40T vs the 11-42T gearing for a gravel bike set up?
The two cassettes have all the same cogs except for the last one, so the only difference would be what your rear derailleur can handle.
Note that for gravel use this cassette has big jumps in your cruising gears, and the 15-18 jump in the middle could be annoying, depending on what you're used to.
How do you plan on using the bike. I.e. how much pavement vs gravel. Lots of hills? Mostly flat? It’s hard to recommend a suitable gear setup without knowing where the bike will be used. But as far as 11-40 vs 11-42, you probably would notice no difference as it’s only a 5% difference in the lowest gear.
Thanks for the response. I was planning to use it for gravel rides and possibly some races in my local area. I live in the piedmont region of central Virginia. Not really mountainous around here but plenty of single track and gravel/dirt roads typical of southeastern United States.
Would a cassette like the SRAM PG-1070 10 speed, 11-36T be better than the others I mentioned?
What size tyres do you have? Are there any brutal climbs in your area, are you planning to regularly climb something like steep singletrack, or only gravel?
On my previous bike i've had a 1x10 with an 11-36 and a 38T chainring. IMO for a 1x that's not enough range. I was spinning out all the time and I always wanted an easier gear.
Then I went to a 1x11 with a 10-42 cassette, much much bigger range. First a 42T chainring then a 38T chainring. On this bike I have 43mm GravelKing SK tyres. With the 42T it was perfect for asphalt and gravel, but I wanted an easier gear for more serious offroad climbs.
Went for a 38T. I got the easy gear I wanted, but sometimes i'd still like something easier. But that's only when i'm climbing somewhere where i'd be better off on an MTB. However even though i'm not in a hurry and i'm not racing anyone I spin out very easily on asphalt, and keep in mind 38-10 is about the same ratio as 42-11.
I noticed that on flat, easy gravel or asphalt I use the bottom half of the cassette when I have the 38T chainring on, with the 42T i'm usually in the middle. Any kind of decent offroad riding and of course i'm in the the top part of the cassette most of the time with both chainrings.
I might have the unpopular opinion here but personally I wouldn't go 1x with a 1x10 unless I lived somewhere where it was flat. But then i'd go with a larger chainring even though i'm slow and I like to spin. I went with 1x10 because it was cheap and I was curious what 1x was about but it's seriously limiting with a 11-36 IMO.
I haven't built the bike yet but I'm planning to put the Panaracer GravelKing SK 43s you mentioned on it.
There are some brutal single track climbs in my area but I'm going use a XC MTB for that.:-)
I'm planning to use this bike for long distance mostly flat gravely/dirt type road rides. I'm going the cheap route too since this is a bike rebuild project. Based on the feedback I've gotten, I'm probably going to go with a 40T front chain ring and a 11-36 cassette.
I agree with those who prefer the 11-36. I would suggest a 36T chainring up front. I found that the 36T 1x chainring gave me high enough gearing for most situations on gravel. And, by dropping the effective gearing of each cog by about 10% from the 40T 1x setup, which I also tried, I found that I had good gearing choice on the rolling hilly dirt roads of the Monadnock region of southern NH - similar to your Piedmont conditions. I would also suggest that if you can afford the cost of the upgrade, an 11 speed gear set is a worthwhile investment for 1x.
What parts do you already have? It might be cheaper and more functional to run 2x8. 34-46 with a 12-32 8 speed gives you more range and closer gears. I'm guessing the bike already has the appropriate front and rear derailleurs and a 110 BCD crank.
Cody wrote:I haven't built the bike yet but I'm planning to put the Panaracer GravelKing SK 43s you mentioned on it.
There are some brutal single track climbs in my area but I'm going use a XC MTB for that.:-)
I'm planning to use this bike for long distance mostly flat gravely/dirt type road rides. I'm going the cheap route too since this is a bike rebuild project. Based on the feedback I've gotten, I'm probably going to go with a 40T front chain ring and a 11-36 cassette.
Awesome tyres, love them to death. You can fly on them for sure.
If you're not planning brutal climbs then i'd probably go with a 42T chainring. But ideally for the type of riding that you do i'd more likely go 11spd with a 44-46T chainring.
I'm curious too what parts you already have. 1x11 upgrade kits (shifter, cassette, RD, chain) are pretty cheap. An NX or SLX would do the job perfectly and you get an 11spd 11-42 cassette. Not sure if you already know but you can install a mountain 11spd cassette on any old 8spd freehub.
I have an old Trek 700 Hybrid frame with the original Shimano 100GS drive train. It was actually the first bike I ever bought after college. At this point I'm planning to rebuild the drive train but keep the rims, hubs, brakes, etc. I originally thought I couldn't fit an 11 speed system on it but after some research I think I can. I'm kinda new to gravel. I've been XC mountain biking for the last four years even doing some occasional races. I like the 1x concept.
My current list of possible drivetrain upgrades: SRAM 1170 cassette 11-36T SRAM Rival 1, Long cage Rear Derailleur SRAM GX 11 speed, Rear Shifter Race Face Narrow Wide 40T Unbranded 170mm crank
Cody wrote:I have an old Trek 700 Hybrid frame with the original Shimano 100GS drive train. It was actually the first bike I ever bought after college. At this point I'm planning to rebuild the drive train but keep the rims, hubs, brakes, etc. I originally thought I couldn't fit an 11 speed system on it but after some research I think I can. I'm kinda new to gravel. I've been XC mountain biking for the last four years even doing some occasional races. I like the 1x concept.
My current list of possible drivetrain upgrades: SRAM 1170 cassette 11-36T SRAM Rival 1, Long cage Rear Derailleur SRAM GX 11 speed, Rear Shifter Race Face Narrow Wide 40T Unbranded 170mm crank
Since 100GS is 7 speed check your freehub if you're keeping the hubs. 8-9-10spd is the same in terms of width, 11spd is wider but 11spd mountain cassettes will fit on a 8-9-10spd freehub body. However, 7 speed is narrower and you won't be able to fit 8-9-10 or 11spd stuff on it.
If you're buying a new wheel or the current freehub is 8-9-10spd then you can fit an 11spd mountain drivetrain on the bike.
The Rival 1 rear derailleur is not going to work with the GX mountain shifter. The pull ratios are different, you can't mix SRAM 11spd mountain and road stuff. Check this article:
Thanks for the response. I figured I would need to replace the rear hub in order to go 11 speed. I wasn't aware the Rival 1 wasn't going to work with the GX shifter. The customer support at worldwidecyclery.com indicated it would. Thanks for the information on that.
Will the 11-42T cassette matched with the 40T chain ring work well on gravel type rides? I originally thought the easier gears wouldn't be necessary so I was leaning towards the 11-36T.
What you also might be able to do is get the 11 speed setup and only mount 10 cogs, setting the 11 tooth top cog aside temporarily. The shifter doesn't care that there's a cog missing. Then if you like the bike you can upgrade the freehub or the whole wheels or whatever and go back to 11 cogs.
As mentioned above, in the wide range cassettes you get the same jumps in your cruising gears. Going to a tighter 11 speed cassette just gives you smaller jumps in your climbing gears which you don't really need on a gravel bike. So you might as well get the bigger range. There is one exception though - if you're looking at 11-46 11-speed cassettes the Shimano ones have better cruising gear spacing than the Sunrace ones.
For the chainring size that's between you and your local roads. You could start out riding the 100gs crank on the middle ring which I assume is a 36 and then decide from there. You don't need a narrow-wide ring to make the system work. The only catch might be that new 11 speed chains don't like worn out old 7 speed chainrings. But if it works you can figure out how the range works for you and adjust accordingly. If you feel like you're riding one cog too high on the range you can go up 4-5 teeth in the front.
Cody wrote:Will the 11-42T cassette matched with the 40T chain ring work well on gravel type rides? I originally thought the easier gears wouldn't be necessary so I was leaning towards the 11-36T.
Depends on how sensitive you're to jumps in the gearing. I have an 11spd 10-42 on my gravel bike and if i'm in the mood i'll happily go out on a 4 hour road ride and the jumps don't bother me at all. However I might be in the minority. I also use the bike offroad on MTB-ish terrain where I need the easy gears.
In your case i'd go with a 11-42 instead of an 11-36 so I could fit a larger front chainring but still retain an okay low gear if i'd ever find myself at the bottom of a climb. You never know.
There are tons of 1x gravel bikes that come with 11-42 or 10-42 cassettes. 42T is pretty much the standard chainring size.
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