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Thanks - the fixie thing is part of why I’m thinking 1x could work. How much of a pain is it swapping out the big ring for different kinds of riding? I could envisage running 44 up front but swapping for something smaller to ride loaded, but taking links out is a fiddly ball ache...
h2o-
In theory long as the big sprocket and chainring add up to the same thing, and the cage is long enough, you wouldn't need to change the length of the chain right? You could do something like:
- 48/11-32
- 46/11-34
- 44/11-36
- 40/11-40
- 38/11-42
- 34/11-46 if you're riding up the Alps with full touring gear
You get the idea, you just need to find two good chainring/cassette pairings.
Bit of a faff but if you're changing the chainring it's not much harder to change the cassette at the same time.
Having said all that I have 50/34 + 11-36 on my touring/gravel thing, covers pretty much everything but I end up cruising around cross-chained quite a lot which isn't ideal. Don't think 1× is quite right for touring personally.
- 48/11-32
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Get different chains, takes a minute to swap.
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Adjust with chain quick links and pieces of chain in different lengths.
frankenbike
Netakure
Simba
Mine's 1×10 with 40T ring and 11-36 cassette. It's too high for loaded bikepacking and too low for club runs, but OK for everything else, as long as you can handle the slightly gappy gears. If you're used to riding fixed then you'll probably be just fine, as you're used to being in the wrong gear all the time anyway.