Drivetrain upgrade can be confusing. :(
 

(Sorry for the long post)

Since retiring from the Army 6 years ago I started riding more often, with a few guys in the neighborhood just trying to stay in shape. We usually ride 10 -15 miles a day most flat roads, some sidewalks when the road isn't safe. Some hills but not a lot. I started out on a 17 y/o Trek 4300 MTB then upgraded 2 1/2 years ago to a Cannondale Quick CX3. I've put about 3000 miles on the bike of far. I love the bike but hate the drivetrain. I want to upgrade the drivetrain and have been looking at the Shimano Deore. I was thinking of going from a 2X current to a 1X. When I ride I almost never change out of the top chainring in the front which is why I'm thinking of going with a 1X. This issue I'm having is that my current chainring in a 46/30 with a 11/34 Cassette. The largest chainring in the Doere line is the XT crankset in a 36T. Seems I would have to go to a GRX crankset just to go a 40T It seems my quest to upgrade to a 1X is futile. Can the GRX crankset be mixed with the MTB Deore cassette and Derailleur. Also I was trying to stick with a 1X11 so I wouldn't have to change my rear hub. I also thought about upgrading the bike, but it seems to me that nothing out there is going to be perfect for me unless I make some type of changes. Also I like having the shock on my CX to soak up the bumps from the rough roads and uneven sidewalks. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Any reason you can't use your current crank-set and just put a new ring on it?

Are you looking at 1x11 or 1x12?

I was looking at a 1x11 to not have to replace my rear hub. I hate the shifting on of my current Acera Derailleur. The 1X I really admit is more to clean up the front end plus I almost never use the front derailleur.

With 11 speed you have a lot of flexibility in terms of the chain and ring that you use. Can't you just replace one of your rings with a narrow-wide ring? Check out companies like Wolf-tooth and one-up. In any event, even if you can't replace the rings on your current cranks, you don't need to stick with Shimano for the new crankset.

Judging by the stem extender and the height of the seatpost, looks like that bike is too small for you. Think maybe looking for a new (or used), better fitting bike with the drivetrain you want might be in order.

I was thinking the same thing.

Whatever you do, before buying the parts figure out just how it will affect the gear range. You can use the Sheldon Brown gear calculator https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html to see exactly what gears you will end up with.
I looked up the current version of the of the Quick CX3 and see that it is 2X by 8. You can go up to an 11 speed cassette in the rear because 8 speed to 11 speed all use a 130 spacing for the dropouts. If you want to go with a larger low gear on the cassette you need a compatible RD. I did this when changing from SRAM 10 speed 11-36 to Shimano 10 speed RD a decade ago. The only modification I had to make was use a longer "b" screw. I used the derailleur Sheldon Brown recommended but he has since died and the information on a wide range rear is now gone from the website.
You are not the only one with the same idea. "Rear derailleur for 11-36 cassette with Shimano 105" Apparently this site will not let me direct you to the actual website but first link that comes up with Google is the one I was trying to show.

The bike on the bottom is my old bike. The top bike new is an XL. Per my height and inseam, 73" and 34" I'm on the right size bike. I like a more upright riding position because of my back.

What are you trying to accomplish with the drivetrain change, better shifting, no front shifting, wider range?
If you just want a better shifting rear, put whatever you like there.
If you are happy with the size of your big chaniring and don't like shifting the front, just don't shift the front; then you will still have a bailout if you find yourself on a steep climb.
I agree that you should plot out whatever gear changes you contemplate to see how it compares to what you have and the gears you use.

Sorry, the lower pic caught my attention. You can get a Tourney dbl. crankset with a 50T big ring, but it's made to work as a 2x8 setup. Shimano Tourney FC-A070 Crankset (Black) (2 x 7/8 Speed) (Square Taper) (170mm) (50/34T) - Performance Bicycle (performancebike.com)

I think you can remove the inner crank gear, the FD, & front shifter assembly with associated cabling to achieve the "cleaner" look you are after.
Not sure which combo of parts all would jive, but adding to the parts cart, I think you'll need to invest in a rear shifter assembly. In short, a RD, 11sp cassette, chain, new rear shifter assembly, & you minds well restring in a new cable with new cable housing too. I wouldn't expect you'd need to swap the caliber, but someone with more knowledge will need to confirm that detail.

Normally I would say the gear range on the bike is perfectly adequate. I run a 1x11 setup on my mountain bike, with a 36t in the front and an 11-41 in the rear, but fatter tires give it more top end. I’m not sure what cadence you find comfortable, for myself, and the sake of my knees I tend to use a lower gear and a higher cadence. I was lucky enough years ago to spend a season under the management of a well-known coach, and a lot of time on rollers, this greatly improved my pedal stroke, and since then I have used higher cadences which I can still manage somewhat smoothly.

When out on the road I come across a lot of fitness riders who grind along in big gears, and seem to shift as little as possible. When I worked as a mechanic in a bike shop, I found that many riders seldom changed gears, and some never shifted them at all. A bike has a wide range of gears for a reason, and they should be used. I started riding motorcycles at 13, and use the gears on a bicycle just as I would on a motorcycle. I shift down to a lower gear as I come to a stop, then shift up through the gears as I accelerate. On rolling terrain or when doing intervals, I shift up or down to maintain my most efficient cadence.

I’m not sure how quickly you ride, or what is your usual cadence, but if you are like most riders I see (some of whom are somewhat serious), you would probably see more benefit from pedaling a bit faster than changing your chainring.

As for swapping in a new crankset, its easy as pie, you could swap in a road crank if you like, on one of my bikes I use an XTR 9000 cassette and derailleur with a Dura Ace 7800 crankset, for which you can find a huge variety of chain rings.

To be honest I've never really paid much attention to my cadence ( other than calling cadence:lol:) when riding. I will have to really pay attention to it tomorrow on my ride. During my usual ride with the fellas I change my rear gears up and down the cassette but almost never the front. My small front chainring is a 30T. I think what I will do tomorrow is try to ride my whole ride on the small chainring and see if I can do it. That might give me an idea if I could handle a 36T. I know my cadence would be faster I just don't know how fast for the type of riding I do. Also the tires I'm running are a 700/32 Michelin Proteck. To be honest I think the reason I wanted to go to a 1X11 is I really like the clean look of the 1X on the bike. Didn't know it was going to be this difficult to come up with a combination.

I will have to do more research. I wasn't sure about putting road bike drivetrain on the Cx even though I've noticed the Quick (Non-CX) runs a road drivetrain.

Better shifting on the rear definitely. I don't really do any steep climbs and the ones I do are accomplished by simply moving though the rear gears. I don't have to come off the tall gear in the front.

Thanks for the link. I'm going through the calculations now. This is very helpful.

Have a look at the drivetrain on this bike. It's not available in the US--it's one of those ones that Giant releases in Australia first--but the drivetrain is interesting. You can use Deore, SLX or Deore XT cassette, chain, derailleur and shifter, with an FSA or some other 1x crankset to make a drivetrain on your own bike just like that one on the new Fastroad AR.

That can get expensive quite fast, though, and you can even just get a 40-44 tooth narrow-wide chainring from Raceface, Blackspire or Wolftooth and use it with your existing crank arms. There are also options like Microshift Advent X (10 speed) that you could look at, for use with your own crankset/new chainring combo.

Also remember that Shimano CUES is coming later this year/next year and that group of groupsets will have exactly what you are looking for, an entirely Shimano plug and play system. The U6000 CUES will have 40t and 42t 1x cranksets.

Also, for anyone wanting to work out their gearing, this is the most helpful calculator I know of.

I am not sure about a lot of things .... but as far as I know any Shimano 11-speed anything fits with any 11-speed anything else ..... since you are using thumb shifters, why couldn't you use any Shimano road or gravel chain ring (46 teeth or more) and any Shimano cassette with whichever derailleurs and shifters (as far as I know, nowadays everything over 10-speed MTB is all compatible ... but i warn you my information id a decade out of date.)

You could use any road or gravel double and simply remove the inner ring, and run the derailleur as a chain-catcher---you can leave of the front shifter (and cable---weight savings :D ) and have a homegrown 1x with the gearing you prefer. Use the left-hand bar for your extra-long dropper seat post actuator.

I mean, the first 1x systems weren't bought from Shimano, they were made by guys who mixed and matched and wrenched to get what they wanted. it is loads easier nowadays ......

In all likelihood you could keep your existing 8-speed chain ring and run an 11-speed chain---it would be the first thing I'd try. Install and 11-speed rear end, drop the inner ring, uncable the derailleur, and see if the chain sticks too much. Since you won't be shifting up front, I'd bet it would run just fine. If so .... save bucks. If not .... oh, well, buy an 11-speed road chain set and strip the inner ring.

There, I think 9, 10 and 11 speed chainrings work with 9, 10 and 11 speed chains (I may be incorrect here, please correct me if I am), but 8 speed is slightly different in terms of inner chain width.

Personally, what I would recommend is this: Get a Microshift Advent X groupset from somewhere like here. You can get a narrow-wide chainring from the same place. When buying the chainring, be very careful about BCD--bolt circle diameter--and that your current crankset has bolts, rather than rivets. Cheaper modern Shimano cranksets commonly have riveted cranksets, but that wasn't always the case, so double check. Once you have all that, you can do the conversion yourself, or go to a bike shop that will charge for labor alone, rather than parts. Or work with the bike shop to get the necessary parts/use a mobile van-based bike mechanic service. $200-250 should be sufficient for the conversion, but as ever, you can go lower than that or higher, depending on the level of the components and labor costs.

You can post here in this thread or in the mechanics sub-forum for assistance with it all, as it can be a bit daunting if you have never done it before.

I was never in the armed forces, am a 61 year-old cardiac patient, and am using a 1x drivetrain, one on the front, and one on the rear, 50t x 19t for twenty to forty mile rides every other day or more, and it works really well for me.

Update: So I took a ride this morning riding totally on my lower sprocket 30T. While some of my riding I was pedaling a bit faster than I'd like, I was able to complete the ride as usual. I think a 38 or 40T Front chainring with a 11X rear cassette would be more than suitable for my type of riding.

My wife had a Cannondale Quick 4, and she hated having to deal with a front mech, so I moved to over to a 1x GRX and she was so much happier. Since we live in a very flat area and she did not use the bike as a speedster, she was good with the 40 on the front, and I changed the cassette to an 14-28 which was perfect for her needs. We eventually sold that bike, got her a Trek FX4 which came with GRX 1X and again, I just swapped the cassette out to the 14-28. Something you might want to consider, could be the new Shimano Cues, lower cost and a lot of options.

$.02 I’d change whatever is going on about your existing system to make it shift better and avoid the cost of a specific 1x setup where narrow wide front ring is used in combo with a wide cassette and 1x specific derailleur. Is it possible your existing rig is simply worn and needs a new chain and cassette?

Btw converting to a 1x isn’t an upgrade. It’s simply converting to a 1x. You can upgrade or downgrade regardless of the number of chainrings. If the bike has 3000 miles and hasn’t been serviced it may simply need some work and the upgrades are a matter of normal servicing and replacing of worn components.

The 1X GRX is definitely on my Radar thanks.