# School me on gears. 3x8 1x11 etc.



## banditpowdercoat (Aug 13, 2015)

So I got this Kona lava dome 29er this year. With a 3x8 I think it is. And I see a lot of people running a 1x chainring. I don't ever really use all my gears. I'll shift to large chainring around town on pavement doing errands but on trails usually in the low one. Sometimes middle. But there's a lot of overlap in the gears I know. I drop chains a lot over the rough and the slap the hell outa my chainstay. 

Would a gear upgrade be suitable for me? I do ride pretty much everything that comes in front of me. Well I try to ride it anyways. 


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

Moving to a single chainring up front (1X) has the advantages of simplicity and weight. By removing your front shifter, front derailleur, and 1 or 2 front chainrings you can shed 1.5 lbs from your bike, and eliminate the need to change rings - simpler shifting.

There is a tradeoff though. As you can imagine, you potentially lose some gear range in the process. However with the advent of 1X11, and some pretty high (# of teeth) cogs on the cassette, the loss can be minimal. In fact, if you find you don't need top end speed on the trails (are you often going 25 km/h+ in the bush?), you may notice very little.

The key is to make note of the ratios you are using now, look at some gear calculators online, and figure out what front chainring would work for you. Fewer teeth (like 28) up front means easier climbing, but less higher end speed. More teeth (like 34, 36) give you the opposite.

I run it myself, and love it. I only ever "spin out" (run out of gears) when I'm going downhill on pavement on the way to the trails, and the low end is perfect for the climbs in my area.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

1x8 or 1x9 are possible depending on your terrain and/or your strength. Especially if you see a decent number of strong riders on singlespeeds in your area.

1x drivetrains became more viable for 10 speed cassettes, and even moreso for 11 speed cassettes, and the key has to do with the spread of gears in that cluster. Early 10spd cassettes offered a max 36t cog, whereas 9spd cassettes maxed at 34t. That limited the utility of 1x drivetrains in many cases. With 11spd (and some aftermarket options for 10spd cassettes), there's now a 42t max. I've even seen some aftermarket options for 11spd cassettes that offer up even bigger large cogs. SRAM even changed the freehub body on the hub to allow for a 10t small cog, expanding the overall range even more.

With that kind of range, you give up very little compared to 3x drivetrains.

Definitely plot out what gear combinations you actually use currently before you decide what size chainring to use. Also try to accommodate the possibility for a steeper or longer climb than you usually see, as well as for slightly taller gears as you get stronger. When I went 1x10, I sacrificed big gears in favor of low gears for climbing. I can still pedal my 1x10 fatbike into the low 20's (mph) on pavement with the gearing I have. I don't pedal that fast on trails. If I'm going that fast, I'm going downhill, and coasting.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

It's a pretty expensive swap to move to 11 speed. Probably a good percentage of the cost of your entire bike once it's all said and done. 

If you're mainly looking to stop the chain from slapping and jumping, it's likely that going to a 2x8 with a bashguard and losing a bunch of links out of your chain will help out a ton. Also, wrap your chainstay with an old inner tube or some grip tape, etc to quiet things down.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

You're probably going to use a couple gears up top, couple at the bottom, and maybe a couple in the middle. So 8 to 11 speed means more gears to paddle through to get where you want on the trail  

11s offered really huge wide range cassettes, like 11-42t. Now you can get that range in 10 speed.


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## banditpowdercoat (Aug 13, 2015)

Ya I guess I'll have to pay attn to my gearing when I am riding. Prob dont NEED to upgrade my cogs LOL. Prob if anything get a new fork and get rid of the Pogostick. Seen some chain holder like things that attached to the chainstay before. C Guide I think it was called. Those any good in helping thrown chains?


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## Lou Z. Ryder (Sep 9, 2014)

Switching to 2x8 doesn't cost much, and is easy to do; $30 or so for the bash guard alone (it goes where the biggest chain ring is) but you can also get one that goes with a chain guide. You'd lose the downhill-on-pavement gears.


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## tigris99 (Aug 26, 2012)

Gearing has been covered but the chain slap issue is something that is in the rear derailluer and possibly too long of chain. If you on the small front and trying to go down to fastest (smallest rear) the rear derailleur can't keep the chain tight. This will also cause severe chain dropping issues. The small front ring is for the biggest half of the cassette (and you can't really upgrade it without going more gears back there, any upgrade will be nothing more than saving a few grams of weight).

Middle ring is usually good for the hole cassette, big ring is for the smallest half of the rear.

Beyond that no reason to worry about being on 1 ring up front and taking off the rest. Some people can do it and like it, others dont. 2x is cheap and easy to do though, take off the outer ring, replace with a bash guard if you wish and shorten the chain to proper length, lower the front derailleur and adjust high limit set screw so you cant accidently over shift the front and your done. And the shorter chain will allow you to use more of the cassette in the rear with less chain slap and as long as you don't try to go too low in the rear, no more chain drops.

But it also sounds like your trying to ride alot more than the bike is designed for, so replacing forks and expect to replace wheels is going to come up rather quickly. Rest of bike will be fine, upgrade as things wear out/break.


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## Jake January (Sep 12, 2014)

If it works, don't fix it.

I have an older Merida with 3x8 Shimano which works fine. The older Shimano kit is good stuff.
Even though I don't use it much I like having the lower gear there.
I replaced the fork and spooned on some Schwalbe Big Apples. This really transformed the bike into something very pleasant to ride.


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

If/when you upgrade, consider a clutched rear derailleur. This can mostly eliminate chain slap, and keeps the chain on for 1X without the need for a chain guide.


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## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

I did an evolutionary 1x9 setup. I run a short cage RD. This helps shorten the chain and reduce chain slap.

Basically I figured for most of my riding, the 32t up front with the 11-34 9sp cassette was sufficient for 95% of my riding. There are three trails near me that require longer climbs along with some epics that I need lower gear.

First off, I ditched the large ring in favor of a lightweight bashguard. I never use the large ring. This allows higher clearance to get over logs and other obstacles and it protects the 32t ring. I ditched the FD and ran a chain catcher and just used my hands to move the catcher if I needed the 22t ring (extended climbing bail-out). But this got a bit old when I did more of the larger elevation rides.

Now I run a 30t narrow-wide front ring. This gives me "one more" climbing gear with my middle ring. And if I need the granny ring, then it takes me 8 seconds to flip the chain onto the lower ring.

I've had zero accidental chain drops with the narrow-wide ring. I removed my spacer on the BB for a better chain line with the middle ring. I also run a grip shifter. So I have a very clean cockpit. At a quick glance, all you see are my brake levers. Then you notice the second cable coming off the right going in parallel with my brake cable.









But if you were starting from scratch with a new drivetrain, then I'd look into a 1x11!


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

Multiple chainrings suffer from different cross-chaining issues, depending on what ring you are in.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

Since the 1x setups use the middle ring, theres no cross chaining. You can run the middle ring through the whole gear range. 

You dont need a bash either. Just replace the 4 bolts on the crank with single ring bolts. They're under 10 bucks. Its the more common setup these days.


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## banditpowdercoat (Aug 13, 2015)

Ya. So upon further riding etc. I don't need the large ring. The 2 small work with my 8 cassette. But, my chai rings are riveted on and the large one is 102mm bcd. Most xc it's fine. No thrown chain but when I go to the chair accessed runs it'll jump all over the place and usually off to the bb. I know what your Gona say. A hard tail with entry level front fork on a dh park!!!???? So I'm not as fast. But it sure teaching me the smoother lines. 

I might drill out the rivets on the large ring and lock it out. Or I guess it is working now. Just save my time and cash for my buds stumpjumper this fall


Sent from my iPhone while my Heli plays with the gophers


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