I've got a 2014 Specialized EVO HT mountain bike. Drivetrain is SRAM 1X10. It's my first real mountain bike and I've ridden and raced it in beginner class many times. This year the more advanced races I'm doing tend to have steeper sustained climbs and screaming fast descents. In order to get up the hills I have the 30T chainring on the front, which is what I need to get up steep hills, but going down I spin out at 22 mph.

I know the real answer is lose weight and get fitter so I don't need low gearing to climb hills. Working on that too! And I tried the wolf teeth 42t hack on in my cassette. Was OK, but shifting wasn't as smooth as I would like.

My question. Can my rig be converted to 1X11? Will that 11-speed cassette fit on the hub? If so looks like I would need to pick up new shifter, chain, cassette, rear derailler?

Thank you for the advice.

Simple answer is no, you have a cassette hub, and would need a hub with a SRAM XD drive body to fit a XG119* cassette https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/p...xd-driver-body

Edit - Should clarify, yes you can change the bike easily to 1x11, but the current rear hub you have won't work with a SRAM 11 speed MTb cassette.

Heretically I suggest SRAM Dual drive hub and a rear wheel rebuild . You still have just 1 chainring , but the hubs internal gears gives you the Triple ratio ranges

+ the 10 cogs on the Cassette. https://www.sram.com/sram/urban/products/sram-dd3-30

or the Hammerschmidt 2 speed planetary over drive crankset https://www.sram.com/truvativ/family/hammerschmidt

there the low is a 24t, but the overdrive 1.6x = 38.4t and planetary so shifts faster than derailing an upshift.

Depending on your situation (urgency and budget), I recommend just waiting a couple months. Shimano have just announced their new XT 8000 group set with an 11-speed 11-42 cassette. This cassette will fit on your existing wheel/hub. You can choose to either run SRAM or Shimano 11-speed shifters/derailleur with it.

Thank you for the advice and insight.

I'm not in a big hurry and with three kids in college budget is a consideration. Now I have some options to work through.