I wonder if there will start being more options in the drop-proof extra-long-tooth chainrings anytime soon.

But looking at your current gearing speaks loudly about the era it comes from where 10 teeth was the max allowed difference between chainrings. A Modern compact (50/34) with an 11-25 11 speed cassette will allow for more fine tuning with much more top end and nearly as much low end as your highly optimistic 44-11/36 scenario. A full 105 5800 group is like 350 bucks online. You might consider it.

Well of course a DA7800 wouldn't natively suppport an 11-36, I am using a WolfTooth 'Roadlink' adapter. Actually got the bike running last night and have it with me today to do a shake down ride after work. No Handlebar wrap yet and still got to fine tune it but it's cabled and alive and I took it down the road and back a few times.


Yes it is flat around most places here. Compromising? Sure it's a compromise. It's always a compromise... I mean I could buy a fancy electronic 2x11 and have dreamy shifting that never needs cables adjusted. I could just buy a whole new modern bike with lots of modern upgrades and ditch the mid grade 80's bike. This is just a project for me. Also for the Tri bike, it will still have more range and similar gear spacing as what it has now. Sure I could upgrade to a completly modern and have even more, but I don't necessarily like the look of modern groupsets, even the 7800 crank is pushing my limits of asthetics on an old steel bike but at least it still takes a standard 5 bolt ring and is polished finished. And I enjoy thinking out of the box and being different I guess. I'm not in this to win, just have a good time.


So far so good, it shifts nicely and covers the 11-36 cassette except it falls a hair short of the center on the 36 sprocket to where the teeth are making contact with the side plates of the chain and making a little bit of noise. I might have to put back one of the spacers I left out when I put the cassette on the wheel, to shift the cassette outward just a smidgeon. To further make this project unique, it's also a Shimergo 1x10 using new Campy Veloce 10 speed ergos with the DA7800 components. I like the grip and asthetics of the Campy brifter much better than Shimano (another reason I didn't go with 5800 group) and it was pretty darn cheap brand new. But I didn't want to mess with their powertorque cranksets (though they do look very nice).


If I already had a 2x11 that was installed and working, I don't think I'd want to remove a bunch of stuff just to limit it to 1x11, that doesn't make any sense to me. Just don't use the small chainring if you don't want it.

Free Gerry Hull!

He caught a lot of flak for his 1x11 project but I couldn't see the point of all the criticism. People happily pay a lot of money for a lighter drive train and quick shifts that seldom miss. 1 x anything is taking that to the next level, lighter by elimination and never losing any time in a shift, never missing a front shift, sacrificing only a bit of range and/or wider jumps between gears. If you can engineer it to never drop the chain. It's perfectly logical if that's what you want.

Me neither. He was a character, but he had something to contribute.

Wolf Tooth components makes a 1x specific chainring which mounts in the large ring position but is offset for a optimal 1x chain line. It also uses narrow-wide technology to prevent chain drops.

Drop-Stop Chainrings ? wolftoothcomponents.com

What is anyone using for the left brake lever on a 1x10 system?

A brake lever, I'd wager.

Are they just using a left brifter and not connecting to gears???

What's the other option? Some mismatched franken-lever? #thehorror

No reason that you couldn't do that but there are drop bar brake levers out there for 1x or single speed bikes.

Yes.

That said, IIRC, Sram's 1x set up does not include shifter mechanics in the left brake lever.

Correct. The RD will also work with a wider range cassette and the crank/ring have some additional precautions to prevent chain drop.

I'm using Veloce Ergopowers and just removed the shift cable out of the left one. For my tri build I'llbe using bar end shifters for that one, so will just skip the shifter all together. Using seperate Dura Ace bar end levers for the brakes for that build.

There's a little real-world perspective in a very recent issue of Cyclist. One of the editors did a ride report on the AlpenBrevet. Can't remember the specifics, but the thing is a semi-competitive sportif, some 270kms with one hell of a lot of climbing.

The writer used a Giant Defy Advanced SL w/Dura Ace and discs, but switched out the drivetrain to SRAM Force 1x11 ... just to see. Perfectly suitable, in his experience.

I don't really see the point in a conversion, but were I considering a new bike I'd be intrigued by the inherent simplicity of 1x11 for all-round road riding.

You need a chainring with the correct teeth profiles and built in offset to maximize chainline. You also may need chainring bolts that are short enough for one ring.

Well my 1x10 is up and running, got about 20 miles on it, working good so far. Still fine tuning the shifting and a couple other parts of the build - this was a complete build from bare frame.

I realize this being a complete from scratch build with an odd mix of components is quite a bit different than the OP simply wanting to limit an already working 2x11 drivetrain, but just thought I'd throw in my $.02 here.


DA7800 derailleur, Shimano 11-36 XT cassette, and JTek Shiftmate (to adapt to Campy Ergo shifters)

Lance did that on his 2x

You could of used a Sram mtb derailleur then you wouldn't need the shift mate or hanger extension.

I guess looking at it....the RD will absorb so many teeth difference, if you remove the FD you can use a wider range cassette. There are plenty of new riders who I hear from where the FD shifting is something they are "scared of" and unsure exactly where/when they should be shifting it. Sure lots of other people started learning that before they ever got a drivers license :-).

For some bikes arguably an rear IG hub might be in contention with 1x11 really.

Bill

The problem isn't the take up - yes without 2 different front rings a short cage can handle just about every cassette out there. The formula to calculate take-up still works just 0 for the front and largest sprocket - smallest sprocket for rear. So a 11-36 cassette need a RD capable of 25 teeth capacity. The bigger issue is the max size sprocket it can physically handle. For example my DA7800 is only rated for 27t... without the extended hanger it would just crash into the cassette far before reaching the 36t sprocket. Some say the extended hanger will make the shifting poorer or some such problems, so I guess I'll find out soon enough.

There are many different options here. I already had the DA7800 parts and wanted to use them, plus I got em cheap on ebay. While they are different than the campy shifter, I still wanted to keep some uniformity of the rear components, and polished silver. However my tri build I am thinking of doing something similar, but want black components (bike is white and red with some black trim) those Sram RD might fit. I never looked at Sram before... so you are saying something like the X0 10 speed would work with Camp Ergo? I was planning on DA bar ends but I'm not sure if I really like the aero bars or not. If I decide to use a regular drop bar I may consider this.

Sram "Exact Actuation" rear mech + 10sp Campag shifter + 10sp Shimano cassette works very well. We use that set up on our tandem.

OP here, I have successfuly swapped in a 42T narrow wide in the front and kept my 11-32 in the rear. I tried swapping in an 11-40 in the rear but the 105 RD did not like the 40T sprocket even though its a long cage. Im trying to figure out how others have done it with the 105. My opinion thus far is that even with the 42t, 11-32 combo, this setup is much better than the 2x11 I was running. I ride mostly pavement with grades from -2 to +2 so Im not losing any gearing if i can get the 11-40t in place i will actually have wider low end gearing and 2 cogs left on the high end

A little late responding but if you're still around...


I haven't checked to see if someone got the 5800RD to work on such a big cog but I highly doubt it. The long cage distinction does not directly mean it can handle larger cogs, what it can handle is more chain wrap. It's confusing because they are both rated in teeth.
Specs RD-5800-GS-L
It appears it's designed for around a 32 tooth maximum sprocket (that's what you're dealing with), and 37 teeth total capacity (that is chainwrap, and completely overkill since you're eliminating front shifting). You can often squeeze a tooth or two larger cog on shimano derailleurs I've heard, but I highly doubt you'd be able to get even a 36 in with a stock 5800 (but someone correct me if I am wrong). The problem is the top pulley will crash into the gear since it doesn't have enough clearance to go below it. The length of the cage is the distance between the other pulley that sticks out further - we don't care about that one. The only way I see you can use your road derailleur and get a 40 tooth cog to work is go the route I did with an extended hanger that physically drops the entire derailleur down lower. I'm not sure if there are other companies that do this, but I used a Wolf Tooth Roadlink adapter.




And just to add in a quick update on mine... I've got several shorter rides on it now <30 miles, a 50 miler and 64 mile group ride. I love it! For the small hills around here the 36t is just fine, and similarly the 11t with 44 chainring is plenty except for if I wanted to push really hard going downhill, but I am fine coasting in that scenario, it's not a race bike. It's been extremely rare I even shift into the 11t, I don't go much faster than low to mid 20's (mph) that often.