I spend some time at Brands with Eric this afternoon. I am a bit concerned about the 1x being a 40 crank with a 11-28 cassette. My road bike has a compact 50/34 crank with a 11-28 and it's fine. I'm not worried about top end, but want to make sure the 40/28 will be enough for me to ride some hills like Stillwell and Fish Hatchery. We looked at options like putting a 11-32 cassette on but the bike comes with a short case that can't handle anything larger.

I'm going to hold off and see if i can find one to ride and checkout or workout the rations and see if i can simulate them on my road bike.

There's no need to rush into this since I have 6 months before i'd really ride it.