A customer of ours bought a bike at another shop, a Felt Cafe 7, and asked us to work with him on the gearing. Which we were happy to do. He started out with a 1x7, 38 x 13-30; ended up at 1x9, 32 x 11-34. For what he does, he says it is perfect range for him, doesn't wish for more.

I don't find front derailleurs or the shifting of them troublesome at all, and would be quite unhappy to lose either chainring. On my commute, the first 2 miles is very slightly downhill with hardly any traffic and synchronized traffic lights, and I am in 53x12 or 53x13. On the return, I take a different route and use 42x18 on some uphill parts of it, though I guess I could use 53x24. And the ramp out of the office parking garage is steep enough to want my lowest gear, 42x26. A 1x8 system would be quite inferior for my route.

44 or 45 ring with 11-28 would more than encompass that range.

You're getting dangerously close to half-step territory there. ;)

Certainly understand that sentiment. I've adjusted a few triple fronts on friends' bikes and it's kind of a PIA getting the initial tension just right, which is required.

Still . . . on that long, 3-mile, 1,000 foot descent . . . the big ring is your friend. I'll keep my 53/39. And my 52/42s. It may be more a matter of terrain.

I love my 48/38/28 11-32 for touring and my 50/34 12-25 for hill climbing. But for the places I commuite to 48 11-27 (actually 30 but its dangerously close to the spokes so I tuned it out) is actually about right.

It would have big steps using a 7 speed freewheel, which is what my bikes have (or less).

I use 1x8 on my commuter and 1x9 on the other. Been a fan for years. Don't miss the front derailleur at all. For quite awhile I used to have a double, but would change gears manually by hand since I hardly ever used the inner. Cross chaining is a bit severe with the lowest gears, but I haven't had a problem with it.

My ride is a 3x8, and most days I could use a 1x8 without any problems.

Devo

I have a nexus 7 IGH, 42/20. 34-83 gear inches. I wouldn't mind changing it to 45/18, making it 40-100.

Now that I'm swimming & lifting I don't have as much energy for the bike, so I'm not running out of gear nearly as much. So not urgent at all, and even then-perfectly adequate. 90 rpm in the top gear is ~22mph. I only sustain that on flats or downhills, and those aren't very common or long in my commute.

Ok, noob question, and this seems an appropriate topic:

What's so special about the Sram x1 stuff?

How is it different than just running a cassette+rear derailleur and a single speed/IGH/fixie up front, or just reducing a double or triple to one ring?

Or is it just a really high quality set of stuff? Some spot checks show it costs as much as ultegra, but with less parts.

The SRAM bits are both high end,and intended to run as 1x. When you're running a 10-42 cassette,you need a derailleur that can handle that much range,plus a chain that can take being cross-chained alot of the time.

I run a 1x8 - I have bashguards on both sides of the chainring which keeps my pant leg from getting caught in the chainring, and also keeps the chain on the chainring. 12,000 miles on this arrangement with no issues.

i thought of building a 1x8 using that 11 to 32 tooth 8 speed freewheel then use the appropriate front chain ring teeth amount for cadence.

Pretty much what I did. Works great, wheels are heavy. :( Saw a beaten up roadie (frame is dead from a crash) but its drive train and wheels look perfect. Seriously tempted to buy it and transfer the brifters etc across. Probably leave the double off but its wheel set is much lighter. Yes.... I can never leave a project alone. :)

For those much-longer rides (centuries, charities, etc.), I'd say having a double or triple ring up front is exponentially better (lame attempt at subtle humor), but since most of my riding is commuting nowadays, I found a 1x8 to be wonderful. Ended up getting a Suntour 1-9spd crankset that has a bash guard on the outside and pairing it with a Shimano HG51 on the back. It worked wonders; the only problem I had is that the frame was too small for me, so I'm currently thinking of transferring that drivetrain to a fresh frame, perhaps a nice inexpensive Nashbar CX frame. 1x8 sure did beat the single-speeds for climbing those hills.