Originally Posted by
BobA
the crank is down to one gear (40T), the cassette has gone from 9 (11-36) to 10 gears (11-46)
Go with the 1x drive train. Only having one derailleur to worry about greatly simplifies riding and maintenance. I have a 40T on the front and an 11-speed 11-46T on the rear, and that gives me plenty of range in a fairly hilly part of central Pennsylvania. It would take an awful lot of other improvements for me to ever go back to a 2x or 3x drive train.