Which Groupset?

What about the rotor Rex power meters? 110/60 bcd

Sizes: 170/172.5/175mm

Very much doubt it

Probably one of my worst ideas to date but has anyone thought about two cranksets, a 1×/double, and swapping them over? I am imagining a set of shifters for 1×, a band on mech and a bar-end front shifter, then to swap over you would:

1. swap bar-end for normal plug
   
2. take the mech off
   
3. resolve cable situation
   
4. swap cranks
   
   

Seems like It Would Be Easy™ and would be alright for the typical gravel/commuter/touring do-it-all sort of bike that a lot of us have to make do with, where you're okay with (e.g.) 44/11-36 for 95% of your riding, but want a 50/34 + 11-36 or a triple or something for touring.

Obviously you would only swap it rarely. And I'm working off the assumption here that few people go touring on a whim; that is, you'd know well in advance "I'm going touring next week, better spend an hour swapping over my cranks, putting racks on, putting mudguards on, etc.".

You could also pair it up with a 650b wheelset with an 11-42 or whatever; for gravel you have 44/11-42 + 650b, for commuting you have 44/11-36 and 700c, for touring you put on the double with 700c wheels.

It really doesn't take very long to swap cranks over at all.

(e.g.) 44/11-36 for 95% of your riding, but want a 50/34 + 11-36 or a triple or something for touring.

Or just stick with 50/34 and 11-36 and have less faff.

44 11/36 gives what benefit? And only retro grouches want bar end shifters.

It just seems you want to make life over complicated and may well need to change chains.

Well I guess 1× is less faff when you're out riding though. Front shifting is a pain in the arse especially if you're rolling up and down some horrid 20% gravel slopes. And I think bar-ends are fine, especially on the front shifter when you're not using it often. Re. chains I don't see why you'd need to change? If your derailleur can handle 34/11 and 50/36 at the same time (perfectly doable) it should have no problem with 44/11-36. Definitely need a clutch mech with good springs though.

It just seems you want to make life over complicated

Me all over

If it's a standard 5 bolt 110BCD, I wonde if it doable to fit the Praxis Work 48/32 chainring as the 32t is designed to take a specific bolt with the 48t chainring.

I don't know if it'll work with another 110BCD crankset.

Or just stick with 50/34 and 11-36 and have less faff.

Not necessary so.

With a 50t chainring, you're more likely to spend more time on the upper gears of the rear cassette which are much more widerly spread out.

Having a 48/32 mean that you're more likely to use the middle gear which are more evenly spread out.

What groupset? if 10 speed, you can get Sunrace with 11-40t for instance, so with a 46t mean you get a low gear similar to a 34/28.

SRAM 10-speed, yeah, so 11-40 and MTB derailleur is easy to do. I think what I'd like is something like a 48/32 or 46/30 double for road touring and 44 1× for gravel/commuting/day-rides/whatever. 1× cranksets seem to be only £50 or so on eBay and I already have the bar-ends.

Was hoping someone else might have done and would be able to tell me whether or not it's stupid but oh well

At the moment I have 48/32 with a 11-34t which felt idea, and throw in a 11-36 when going off road touring.

A 11-36 with a 32t ring is similar to an MTB drivetrain too.

Or get a cheap FSA 46/30 to give you all the range with a normal 11-32t.

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;product=208747;menu=1000,4,29;page=22

Oh, nice! All the 46/30 cranksets I looked at are £200. Not sure I want to go back to square taper though.

Will probably try a triple to double conversion but the chainrings are going to work out nearly as expensive as that FSA crankset

Not sure I want to go back to square taper though.

gtfo

The future is square (and slightly tapered).

Tuneable chainline and Q factor is worth more than the stiffness. FACT.

:)

That’s listed as 9sp only.

Ok for 10sp?

I'm not bothered about stiffness, I just think it's a worse system. My last set of square taper cranks wore away to the point where they fell off as I was riding along. (I didn't know a lot about bike maintenance then though.) I also don't care about Q factor at all. Tuneable chainline is a big plus though, and also ease of replacement in Mongolia.

Maybe I'll give it a crack then

My last set of square taper cranks wore away to the point where they fell off as I was riding along.

I’ve had this with Sram Apex. If things loosen they will wear. It doesn’t help that the SRAM bolt is so short.

I use a torque wrench these days ;-)

Re. chains I don't see why you'd need to change?

Chain size is determined by the two largest sprockets.

Changing from 50t to 44t will definitely need two chains.

Am I being stupid here? I don't see how. My chain is long enough for 50/36 and the cage is (just barely) long enough to take up the slack for 34/11. If it can do both of those then the chain is (more than) long enough for 44/36 and the cage is more than long enough for 44/11. In the 44/36 the derailleur just takes up the slack. It would be like switching from 50/34 11-36 to 50/34 with a 21-30 cassette.

Perhaps it would result in suboptimal shifting it should work fine no?

Hang on, I've solved the 1×/double swap issue - use a DT shifter. No cable routing issues, you can trim the position, light weight. Only potential difficulty is getting the cable out of the BB guide. Seems a few pros did it back in the day:

Square taper too annoying for frequent crank swaps so the FSA would be out

Edit: surprised at the lack of insults flying my way for suggesting such a stupid groupset. I expected more.

I have put lots of miles in square taper cranks and BB and its a better system for me. However most of my bikes have modern bb's. Rotor qx1 chainrings are rubbish. I got one for the commutor and the chain derails. They need a clutched mech really. I have 1x on another bike with a garbaruk ring and a chain has never dropped. Soon there will be three road bikes on 1x11 with a 42t, 44t and 46t garbaruk chainrings. I run this with campagnolo drive trains.

Yup and 8 speed, can’t comment on 11 speed tho.

It’s square taper, they’re reliable.

I replace more press fit/external bearing bottom bracket than I do square taper.

But not as convenient if I want to switch between 1× and a double :) it involves extracting two cranks instead of one!

I try to avoid proprietary stuff like that. I know you can go smaller but not without doing something 'funky'.

Just get another bike.