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  • Got my first road bike recently after years of riding fixed, rear shifting is fine but I'm finding the front derailleur a big faff to use. The commonly used range seems to be right between the two rings, plus the highest 3 gears are useless on all but the steepest descents. It's currently 50/34 with an 11-23 cassette (campag).

    Considering a 1x setup to even things out, keeping the 50 up front, ditching the fd and switching to a 13-29 cassette. A gear range of 45 to 101 GI looks good on paper, but

    1. I'll be cross chained on the climbs, is this a big deal?

    2. Would I need a chainguard to prevent droppage?

    3. Is this a simply a stupid idea born from my inexperience with gears?

  • Is this a simply a stupid idea

    Elements of it are, others are on the right track. If you're not racing, the 50/11 top gear is, as you've discovered, a bit of waste of time. My road set up is 48-34/12-27, which for most purposes is a 1× with a bail out option. Since the FD adds very little weight and serves as the chain guide you'd be thinking of adding if you went to a true 1× set-up, you might as well keep it. If you can get a 13-29 cassette, that will make your set-up pretty similar, i.e. front shifts are not needed until you get to proper hills.

  • Nice, yeah that all makes sense. I'll try to get my hands on the larger cassette as a first step. Thanks.

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