Gravel - 1x or 2x?

CantGetNoSleep

I'm currently running 2x on my gravel bike (46-30 and 11-32). I need a new front derailleur (I'm running 105 and it isn't compatible with the Shimano GRX chainset) but thinking of just switching to 1x while I'm at it.

I use the full range of gears so I'd probably be looking at 40t front and 11-42 at the back.

I'd need to buy a new crankset, rear derailleur and two cassettes although I think it is more a challenge of finding stock than cost. Fairly easy to resell a GRX 2x crankset I'd say too.

Has anyone done a similar switch or have this sort of set-up? I have a road bike so not worried about keeping up on club runs etc but I do plan to use this bike on the road with a second wheelset the odd time

iwillhtfu

I built up a gravel bike of sorts 34 x 12-46 I think it is. It was built for a reason as had some long hilly mountain spins planned loaded with camping gear.

If you're just planning on enjoying the ride as opposed to killing yourself 1x is great I find. I've had it on the MTB for years. You may not need to sell the crankset you have as you could probably pick up an oval chain ring that'll fit. You may need to grind down the crank ring bolts or add a spacer.

I was running it on 26" wheels but recently upgraded to 27.5 and managed to squeeze some WTB 47mm tyres on there. Just about they were cheap so worth the risk. https://www.bike24.com/p2371275.html

26" rims left and 650b right - 28" rims on the very left

fat bloke

1x rocks. I love it.

smacl

Love the greens and browns on the Genesis ilwillhtfu, looks fantastic. Is that a suspension post you have on it or some kind of dropper?

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks for the replies. Since posting I've realised that the problem with this plan is finding a GRX 812 rear derailleur. I've a 105 short cage on at the moment so not a hope of that fitting.

What is the equivalent of a 105 level cassette in 11-42? Need two and bike is heavy anyway so not looking to break the bank

CantGetNoSleep

smacl wrote: »

Love the greens and browns on the Genesis ilwillhtfu, looks fantastic. Is that a suspension post you have on it or some kind of dropper?

I was thinking the same, it's a beautiful bike

Alek

I've a 105 short cage on at the moment

I have a short cage 105 serving an 11-46 cassette in 1x configuration. Depending on the length of your gear hanger, you may need a hanger extender for a tenner from amazon, but it will work just well.

iwillhtfu

smacl wrote: »

Love the greens and browns on the Genesis ilwillhtfu, looks fantastic. Is that a suspension post you have on it or some kind of dropper?

Thanks. Yeah they do go well together alright. The post is one I robbed off of an old hybrid I had lying about. It has an air cannister in it so gives about 5-10mm suspension. I have a nice carbon one I bought to put on it but to be honest this is probably the comfiest bike I have so it's staying put.

nilhg

Watching this, thinking of upgrading my CX to a "proper" gravel bike to be used for normal gravel stuff plus some touring and also as a winter bike for club spins, my initial thoughts were the range of gearing that 2x offers would be best but keen to hear of others experiences.

I took the 46/36 CX chainset off the CX bike and replaced it with a compact, never regetted that TBH, but wasn't trying to race CX.

Large bottle small glass

nilhg wrote: »

Watching this, thinking of upgrading my CX to a "proper" gravel bike to be used for normal gravel stuff plus some touring and also as a winter bike for club spins, my initial thoughts were the range of gearing that 2x offers would be best but keen to hear of others experiences.

I took the 46/36 CX chainset off the CX bike and replaced it with a compact, never regetted that TBH, but wasn't trying to race CX.

Whatever about 1x or 2x unless you like spending money for the sake of it get the cheapest components you can.

Irish "gravel" riding if you actually do it all year round is pretty brutal on drivetrain components.

I have fitted full mudguards since January and a front flap ( not sure how smart that is especially for wood riding) but even with that would expect to replace chain at 2k km or less.

Without mudguards and if you don't keep an eye on chain( which will be a lot of riders) it'll be new drivetrain pretty sharpish.

I'd expect BB and headset won't have a long life either; just serviced headset which was pretty rough after a pretty rough first 1k km although BB is fine. Pads had a short life to but I'll see how the sintered disco ones go

Just got 2 BB and 3 chains delivered from rose for €60 so cheap as fcuk for a lot of fun.

A lot to be said about having a bike you don't give a fcuk about rather than being precious about so fancy show pony

nilhg

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

Whatever about 1x or 2x unless you like spending money for the sake of it get the cheapest components you can.

Irish "gravel" riding if you actually do it all year round is pretty brutal on drivetrain components.

I have fitted full mudguards since January and a front flap ( not sure how smart that is especially for wood riding) but even with that would expect to replace chain at 2k km or less.

Without mudguards and if you don't keep an eye on chain( which will be a lot of riders) it'll be new drivetrain pretty sharpish.

I'd expect BB and headset won't have a long life either; just serviced headset which was pretty rough after a pretty rough first 1k km although BB is fine. Pads had a short life to but I'll see how the sintered disco ones go

Just got 2 BB and 3 chains delivered from rose for €60 so cheap as fcuk for a lot of fun.

A lot to be said about having a bike you don't give a fcuk about rather than being precious about so fancy show pony

Not disagreeing with a word you say, in the wet the going is tough for any moving parts, I've two sets of wheels so the cassettes aren't getting the full impact of things but I've 3700km on the current chain and it still seems OK(ish), had to do lower headset bearing recently and the BB a while ago but not sure how many KM were on them, bike came to me thirdhand. I'd be a stickler for cleaning and lubing the chain after every ride though.

Remains to be seen how the new 13 speed Campy Ektar groupset will stand up to the ravages of gravel, very light chain you'd imagine with small enough tolerances.

smacl

nilhg wrote: »

Not disagreeing with a word you say, in the wet the going is tough for any moving parts, I've two sets of wheels so the cassettes aren't getting the full impact of things but I've 3700km on the current chain and it still seems OK(ish), had to do lower headset bearing recently and the BB a while ago but not sure how many KM were on them, bike came to me thirdhand. I'd be a stickler for cleaning and lubing the chain after every ride though.

Remains to be seen how the new 13 speed Campy Ektar groupset will stand up to the ravages of gravel, very light chain you'd imagine with small enough tolerances.

My 'gravel' bike is a Rose Cross DX with 11/34 cassette and 50/34 up front. 34/34 is a handy enough low gear for most stuff, though a tad lower for some off steeper off road wouldn't hurt. As Large bottle small glass pointed out, there's a lot to be said for looking at cheaper components, as gritty mud eats chains. I use cheaper SRAM chains and get through ~4 a year with fire roads and muddy trails 2-3 times a week. Rest of the drive train seems grand, get a year or so out of a cassette and original chain rings are fine. Ultegra setup but go 105 on cassettes. Disc brakes are important as the same gritty mud will also add a lot of rim wear on rim brakes. Tyres are probably the most important bit which I still haven't got quite right. Currently running 40c G-One Allrounds which are great on roads and gravel but useless in any mud. Going to try some gravel kings next.

Ekar looks fantastic but ~€250 for a new cassette and €40 for a new chain could start getting expensive if you were hitting many muddy days out.

nilhg

There's a post in the Irish gravel cycling group showing three Fustles, one has Ektar, another the rotor hydraulic groupset and the last GRX, it would be very interesting if we could be kept up to date on how all 3 run long term.

Large bottle small glass

smacl wrote: »

Disc brakes are important as the same gritty mud will also add a lot of rim wear on rim brakes. Tyres are probably the most important bit which I still haven't got quite right. Currently running 40c G-One Allrounds which are great on roads and gravel but useless in any mud. Going to try some gravel kings next.

I wore a rear rim in about 3k km, I have a front rim on road bike with about 40k km on it and far from done yet.

On tyres I have 37mm WTB Riddler's, which while not a mud tyre are pretty good compromise tyre. I rode the real Waterford Greenway this morning and they were fine.

WTB have a lot of different tyres that would suit gravel, depending where you are on spectrum.

I have 43mm gravelkings sitting in shed, they'll fit bike but not a hope with mudguards so they could be for sale soon!

nak

Went the opposite way bike came with 1X GRX and I swapped it out for the 2X version - use the bike for commuting/gravel/road rides/bike-packing so works better for me.

a148pro

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

the real Waterford Greenway this morning and they were fine.

Tell us more? Was underwhelmed by the actual greenway apart from it being family friendly, is there something wilder and more aesthetic out there?


Also, I think I asked you this before, but seems to me there's quite a few offroad routes that go high on the galtees, have you ever done them?

Large bottle small glass

a148pro wrote: »

Tell us more? Was underwhelmed by the actual greenway apart from it being family friendly, is there something wilder and more aesthetic out there?


Also, I think I asked you this before, but seems to me there's quite a few offroad routes that go high on the galtees, have you ever done them?

https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/abandoned-or-little-used-irish-waterways/waterways-of-the-south-east/the-brickey-navigation/

Only 4km or so is rideable.

There is quite a bit of forestry close by (including the oyster road) and a really brilliant network of backroads.

Lumpy as fcuk though with a few treats like Barry's boreen and Kilnefora so be careful with the plotting.

The best place from someone who likes gravel/backroads to see Greenway is under the Durrow viaduct where a lovely road crosses the Tay.

Cahir woods are only Galtee roads I'd know. I'd imagine any high trails are hiking ones.

Saw a double sunset on Galtees during summer; sun set behind Galtee mor before emerging again and setting finally behind Galtee beag.

a148pro

I have a sense that the tourist route from the South side car park would be largely doable, probably better on a mountain bike. I found one online route suggestive of someone having done it:

https://www.climbbybike.com/climb/Galtee-Pass/13947

Route from Galteebeg up to Galteemore is definitely hike a bike, and quite steep at that. But there is a track that goes off to the right in front of Galteebeg that seemed doable, and leads down to Glen of Aherlow side

Would be some route, another one for the staycation list

a148pro

OP I think I've 32 32 on mine and would definitely prefer another gear or two. I also suspect if you're going up anything steep, muddy or wet you really need 2x to have an appropriate range, jumps between gears will be too much to stay on the bike. But that's mainly a theory on my behalf, I don't do enough of that to really know. I'm sure there's tonnes of analysis from the States on this online.

Large bottle small glass

a148pro wrote: »

I have a sense that the tourist route from the South side car park would be largely doable, probably better on a mountain bike. I found one online route suggestive of someone having done it:

https://www.climbbybike.com/climb/Galtee-Pass/13947

Route from Galteebeg up to Galteemore is definitely hike a bike, and quite steep at that. But there is a track that goes off to the right in front of Galteebeg that seemed doable, and leads down to Glen of Aherlow side

Would be some route, another one for the staycation list

Is that not just off satellite data?

I've climbed the Galtees quite a bit but not very much since 2006 when I got a bike:)

The nicest way up is Glengarra wood at point marked 3 on your link. That section is cycleable to end of wood but a rough hike from there up to about 10 on your map link.

My memory of that track is it's pretty rough as you move higher. I'm not shy bringer bike into rougher stuff/singletrack etc but once you have steep gradient and large stone you are not going anywhere and living on brakes on way down.

From the start point of your route you are much better advised heading south. The M8 along there is up on foothills of Galtees looking south to nice low lying lands north of Knockmealdowns. It's a brilliant place to ride a bike, mainly back roads but the odd gem like this

https://goo.gl/maps/qxuRKggH1mAGwyyR9

Although the council in their wisdom resurfaced the bottom section of that about 6 months ago.

Here's a loop, first 20 odd km entirely off road and some open mountain, and km 56-64 is off road to but all Coillte forest. You'll eat your dinner after it

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35006784?beta=false

I'd know Comeraghs, Galtees, Slievnamon and Knockmealdowns fairly well and the Knockmealdowns are where it's at.

It is traversed by 6 different passes which run north to south. The north and south slopes have lots of forestry, river walks, St Declan's way, Blackwater way, Tipp Heritage way and Mount Mellary with it's farm road network. The other places have bits and pieces but work well with the local road network

EDIT sorry OP 1x or 2 x will work!

a148pro

I'm not sure, not familiar with the website, but took it that it meant someone had actually done it

I was there recently from the Black road route and there's a kind of old smugglers road type surface, big stones set into grit or clay, that would be at extremes of my gravel bike skills but probably well within mountain bike abiliities, more or less to the foot of the last bump of Galteebeg. Then the same surface goes off to the right away from Galtemore and appears to go down into Aherlow.

Not as attractive or user friendly as the stuff you suggested, but there's something about being able to right over a mountain that's attractive to me

Love the surface you linked to in your pic - Grass Routes Gran Fondo has about a 100k of mostly those roads out of Tipp town which is an absolute gem to cycle

Your route that spins near Clonmel looks amazing and Clonmel very doable by train down and back in a day so will try that some time, thanks

iwillhtfu

a148pro wrote: »

Love the surface you linked to in your pic - Grass Routes Gran Fondo has about a 100k of mostly those roads out of Tipp town which is an absolute gem to cycle

Your route that spins near Clonmel looks amazing and Clonmel very doable by train down and back in a day so will try that some time, thanks

That looks like a fun day out. A few to many roadie pics on the web page to have me thinking there's not much gravel but I like the sound of the famine road.

CantGetNoSleep

a148pro wrote: »

OP I think I've 32 32 on mine and would definitely prefer another gear or two. I also suspect if you're going up anything steep, muddy or wet you really need 2x to have an appropriate range, jumps between gears will be too much to stay on the bike. But that's mainly a theory on my behalf, I don't do enough of that to really know. I'm sure there's tonnes of analysis from the States on this online.

Thanks. I picked up a GRX 600 1x 40t crankset so I have a GRX 812 RD on order (very difficult to find). Going to give the 1x a try with an 11-42 before I sell the front crankset though (and would have needed a new FD anyway as the 105 doesn't work with GRX)

a148pro

iwillhtfu wrote: »

That looks like a fun day out. A few to many roadie pics on the web page to have me thinking there's not much gravel but I like the sound of the famine road.

Next to no gravel, I think they were looking to add a short stretch of bog road - but there are loads of little bothareens with grass down the middle and no cars which is actually probably better than gravel. Entire route is doable on road bike.

CantGetNoSleep

For anyone that has made this conversion - I'm going to be using an M7000 SLX 11-42 cassette. Do I need a 1.85mm spacer to use this on an 11-speed road freehub body?

Tombo2001

nilhg wrote: »

Not disagreeing with a word you say, in the wet the going is tough for any moving parts, I've two sets of wheels so the cassettes aren't getting the full impact of things but I've 3700km on the current chain and it still seems OK(ish), had to do lower headset bearing recently and the BB a while ago but not sure how many KM were on them, bike came to me thirdhand. I'd be a stickler for cleaning and lubing the chain after every ride though.

Remains to be seen how the new 13 speed Campy Ektar groupset will stand up to the ravages of gravel, very light chain you'd imagine with small enough tolerances.

How much time do you spend cleaning the bike each time?

am looking at buying a gravel - initially I thought it would be for winter training, but the more I look at it, I dont think winter is feasible as its just too muddy, you'd spend more time cleaning the bike than actually on it.

nak

Tombo2001 wrote: »

How much time do you spend cleaning the bike each time?

am looking at buying a gravel - initially I thought it would be for winter training, but the more I look at it, I dont think winter is feasible as its just too muddy, you'd spend more time cleaning the bike than actually on it.

Max 20 minutes, varies from a hose down to scrubbing tyres.

nilhg

Tombo2001 wrote: »

How much time do you spend cleaning the bike each time?

am looking at buying a gravel - initially I thought it would be for winter training, but the more I look at it, I dont think winter is feasible as its just too muddy, you'd spend more time cleaning the bike than actually on it.

I have an alu Ridley CX bike, the paint job on it is uncanny, might not be the best looking but if you don't let the mud/grit dry into it a very quick spray with a hose gets rid of 99% of the dirt (I do it straight when I get home, hose from tap, finger over the end to create a spray, dog ate my fancy nozzle thingy), then I leave it dry while I get changed/cleaned myself, give it a rub of a rag, clean and oil the chain and hang it up for the next day, as Nak says max 20 mins.

By the way if I had the road wheels on and was using it as a winter trainer the cleaning routine is no different.

I did have a set of SKS speedrockers on it for the winter, I was doubtful at the start but they're absolutely brilliant.

Large bottle small glass

Tombo2001 wrote: »

How much time do you spend cleaning the bike each time?

am looking at buying a gravel - initially I thought it would be for winter training, but the more I look at it, I dont think winter is feasible as its just too muddy, you'd spend more time cleaning the bike than actually on it.

IMO bikes are for riding not cleaning.

I'm not remotely precious about bikes and hardly ever wash them.

From a functionality perspective the only thing you need to clean regularly is the drivetrain; 2 mins tops.

Other than that store indoors in a heated room as dust down if you feel like when outside again.

I've attached a few photos from a recent spin. Even with my new front flap I wouldn't expect a long life for my drivetrain but so what.

On the gate photo, it was the roughest farm I've been through in a long while I should have posted a few photos in this thread; read the posts which were thanked a lot for a laugh

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058139819

delynet

I find cleaning bikes to be strangely therapeutic so my gravel bike gets a good clean after every wet/dirty spin

Macy0161

Mines stored in the house, so has to be reasonably clean. I normally at least hose down and wash - it's a degrease on the drive train that tends to be a bit more hit and miss for me.

CantGetNoSleep

I live in an apartment but I've a friend a few streets away with a back gate and I often sneak into his garden to hose the bike down after a gravel ride. I'm not yet convinced by winter gravel riding when it becomes riding in the mud though

smacl

Mines stored in a laundry room that has a separate side access door. Usually clean the bike once a week but wipe the chain clean after any off road ride. Don't really have time for much else, but thinking of setting up a hose to give the bike a quick once over after any mucky ride. Most of my lockdown cycling is over lunch so time is a bit tight, will be more opportunity as mornings and evenings get longer.