roval

Starting to revisit these forums after several years as fatbikes are piquing my interest. The better ones seem to have a single chain ring up front and 10 or 11 cassette . The bike shops tell me it's good for all the gear ratios. But why would cross chaining not be a problem?.

DrIsotope

...umm, because there's no second gear in the front to cross? It's impossible to "cross-chain" a 1x setup.

rm -rf

The front chainring would be set to line up with the middle of the cassette. So it can reach all the cogs without an extreme angle.

But newer 9,10,11 speed chains and two or three front chainrings do fine with "real" cross chaining. It might slightly reduce the chain life, or have a bit more friction, but that's all. I never worry about pedaling while cross chained.

Abu Mahendra

Don't take their word for it. Calculate the gear range yourself. How many teeth on the chainring? What's the range on the cogset? 29" wheel? What size tire?

roval

front chainring is 28 t with 10 speed 11-40t cassette with 26x4.6" tires a specialzied fatboy trail .
as rm-rf answered I was more concerned about extreme chain angles causing a lot of stress on the chain. you don't have to have 2 chainrings for this to happen.
but I guess if it's lined up in the middle it shouldn't be any different than using the next to the 2nd or 3th biggest sprocket in a 10 speed cassette with the large chainring in a 3x10 mtb drivetrain. good to know

osco53

My 1 X 11 is lined up with gear 6 as I am mostly in the middle of my cassette, I used a 1mm spacer on my Octalink

If you spend most of your ride in lower gears line the chain ring up with gear #5
If you spend most of your time at faster speeds line up the chain ring with gear #7

roval

If I'd get one I'll do as you suggested to have it lean more towards the bigger cog. I'll be using the smaller cogs only when its in pavement so less rolling resistance.