Originally Posted by
shovelhd
1x on a crit bike is dumb. Weight is not a factor. You need the small ring for warmups. A big wide range cassette and mid cage derailleur is not optimal for crits at all. You want one tooth cog changes.
Downtube shifters will work fine but you will be at a disadvantage if you are a windup sprinter that shifts during the sprint.
I've been riding the 1x bike all around here (central NC) as a training bike with no issues for the past month or so, with 11 speed 11-28. I've never seen a need for 1 tooth cog changes on any crit bike, the jumps on that cassette aren't big, and having an XC background I'm OK with minor variations in cadence (and they are minor).
I'm confident it will be fine as a crit bike setup, especially considering I have an identical bike that has a standard 53/39 crankset.
I wouldn't race it in the mountains, but I've never used the entire cassette in a crit no matter how hilly (I weigh sub-140 in season), and warmups on a flat course in a 52 or 54 aren't a problem.