Anyone have any experience with converting a 2x11 road bike to a 1x11? Is it recommended to lose the big ring or the small ring and how do you adjust the chainline? I have an FSA 46/36 in the front and Shimano 5800 11-32 in the rear. I want to keep the rear cassette

How and why are you converting to 1x11? Unless you are using a 1x11 groupset I don't think chain line will every be perfect

I don't know if it's necessary, but a 1X specific chainring is preferred.

I'm cheap, I think I'd just set my limiter on the front mech to stop me from shifting into the small ring.

On the GCN show recently they were at the bike show in Thailand and there are several 1 x models coming out in 17.

I've done a 1x10 on my cross bike.

There are really two options to do this:
1. Buy a 1x set up with a clutch RD and a narrow wide chainring for up front. The combination should keep the chain in place. You need the clutch RD to make the narrow-wide rings work. A regular RD can still result in a chain popping off.

2. Use a regular RD, with a bash guard and chain keeper to prevent the chain from popping off. This is the route I went. I have a regular Rival RD with a regular 42 chain, an FSA carbon bash guard and a K-Edge chain catcher.

Chain line isn't an issue really.

All you really need is a narrow wide chainring. Install...check chain length and ride. If your chain drops repeatedly, then look into a chainguide. This is pretty much what I did initially when I went 1x on my mountain bikes.

I've been thinking about doing this with my Cervelo. Since I don't do much climbing with my road bike anymore.

I have a Cannondale SuperX with Rival 1. You need a wide/narrow chainring and a RD is x1 specific.

The triathlon website that is named something like "Not Fast Convulse.com"
has a couple of long threads on 1 x 11 and the 1 x 12 that is coming.

But why would you not use all the gears you have?

Yeah, I don't get the 1x fascination at all. Is it just the aesthetics? A desire to have a machine so dialed-in for the rider and specific conditions? I mean, there's no meaningful performance advantage, right?

In some disciplines, notably cross and mountain biking, there is rarely, if ever, a need to shift the FD. So why bother with it? The 1x set up is simpler.

Specialized also offered a 1x Venge last year and a 1x Allez this year. They are designed for racing crits, where almost no one ever finds a need to shift out of the big ring. If I had the money, and room in my garage, for one, I'd probably buy it.

I understand the appeal for off road and commuting machines, and possibly touring (but unlikely due to LOW gearing desired for loaded touring). Fast road bikes? Unless you lived in a pancake flat area, I don't think it makes any sense. You're going to lose either high or low end gearing. I guess if you wanted to go for this new 10-50 SRAM Eagle business (which I guess they will be release a road shifter for at some point), you could have a pretty full range, but you'll get large jumps in gearing not generally suited for fast road riding where you try to keep your cadence in a tighter range. I really enjoy the gearing on an 11-25 11 speed cassette myself.

But hey, I've been wrong before. People used to (and sometimes still) say "What's the fascination with doubles? A triple makes so much more sense!"

EDIT: Reading posts just above again and yes, 1x would make sense for most triahtlons and crits.

I'm not against the idea of 1x specific drivetrains. If you have SRAM Rival or Force 1 and you can have it set up for same gear range as a compact double but simplify by not having front shifting it makes some sense. But even then cassettes to mimic full range of a compact are in the 400-500g range so that negates weight savings of getting rid of front derailleur and front shifters parts.

The places that I see it making more sense are the target audiences of mountain bike, cross and crit bikes. If you are racing crits which are mostly flat then you can get some weight savings since you can go with a smaller range cassette. If you are racing cross or riding mtb then not having a front deraileur that can get banged on a rock or tree stump and brake or mess up your shifting seems to make sense. But just doing it for the sake of doing it or trying to make a 1x drivetrain out of parts that aren't build for that makes no sense

Even if we consider saving around 200gm (FD, clamp, bolts, chainring, cable) for a purpose-built "specific conditions" bike significant or important-- which I don't, especially for tri-- how many people are doing it for that reason? Hell, the OP doesn't even know if he needs the big ring or the small ring...

If you really don't need the extra gears, you don't need 'em; I get that, and I must confess that, as a guy with 8 bikes, I own a couple of 1x drivetrain bikes, but they're not what I'd consider "road bikes" even though they do get ridden on the road. But maybe that's my problem: I just can't imagine how other people ride. I should shut-up, I guess.

Are you doing this on a roadbike or a tt/tribike? There are a lot of threads on this over at <:: Welcome to Slowtwitch.com ::> if you do a search.

To do it right, I think you need a 1x chainring to hold the chain better and a 1x spider so that the chain line is more centered to prevent cross chaining.

1x is growing in popularity for tri right now. The weight is a factor, but I think the drive to go 1x is more for the aero benefits. I think that you will see a lot more 1x in tri in the coming years, but not so much for roadies. Who knows...

I thought weight didn't matter for tri/tt bikes?

I have 1x10 on a cross bike I use for commuting in the winter. Riding with wet roads with muck and sand tends to often mess up the front shifting. 1x is simpler and provides enough range so there is no reason to run two rings up front.

Pfft. I don't think that's a compelling issue. First because if you don't need two chainrings for your commute, why are you worried about shifting the FD? Second, I've ridden for more than 30 years on road bike and MTB through the worst conditions in Michigan and Colorado winters, and find the RD is more likely to foul than the FD, and that when it's cold, nasty, mucky, and grimy, I really do have little to zero need to be jumping between chainrings, especially on a commute.

So, whether the FD is prone to fouling or not, it's irrelevant to the ride. Personally, my commuter is full-fendered, which offers protection to the FD from wheel spray, which may be a performance aid.

Of course, since you're talking about your winter commuter, this bike falls under my "specific conditions" carve-out; if you don't need the two rings, you don't need them, and eliminating the FD simplifies cleanup and maintenance. That's a good reason to go 1x; throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not.

Most bikes come with a standard or double crankset which, for me, requires shifting the front ring to climb hills. I could climb them in my big ring but it's not pleasant. I have to shift whether its cold and nasty or warm and sunny. My bike with 1x setup came that way and I haven't seen a reason to change. Simpler and less maintenance.

There are some edge cases where having two rings up front is helpful but for 95% of the riding I do I don't have a problem with the 1x. I wouldn't want to do a TT with it but for most riding it's fine. I'm have a pretty high tolerance for cadence changes so bigger jumps don't bother me.

It does matter... it just matters a lot less than aero, and a lot of tri courses are pancakes, so the powerful folks run 54/42 chainrings. Not unreasonable to just do away with the little one in that scenario. Especially since lots of them run cadences that would horrify roadies.

I'm not following you... Are you saying that if you have a double, you need to shift between front chainrings, but with a 1x, you're fine? Why is that? Couldn't you just stay in the small ring on a double after the climbs, or does the gear range on your 1x offer much taller gears than you would have in the small ring on the double setup?

I think 42 is about as small as I'd want to go for a 1x. My other bikes have either a 34 or 39 small ring.

I give up a little on the low end with the 1x setup but don't climb any long hills in the winter so it's not a problem. In the summer I use a 34 small ring and an 12-26 cassette and that gets me up the long 8-10% hills. To use the 1x in the summer I'd need an 11-32 which is probably available but would need a different derailleur in the rear (currently using Force).

Going to loose either high end or low end depends on what you're comparing it too. I have two 1x10 projects I am putting together, unfortunately at the time of this writing it is not complete so I don't know if I'll like it or not. One is for road bike and the other tri. And they won't be giving up any high or low end range, actually they will improve upon it. For example my current gearing (52/42-13/26) would give a gear inches range of 42.6-105.5 but my new gearing I am piecemealing together (44-11/36) will give me 32.2-105.5 . Some may think the gear spacing would be wider but seeing how I'd only use the small ring after full dropping the cassette to its smallest gear basically I had 7 gears. I hate how out of order trying to use all the gears would be... a 1x10 just makes everything neat and in order, no fussin' with a whole 'nother shifter just for one extra gear, and if your putting it together from scratch like me it saves having to buy and install and tune all that stuff.

I'm worried about the RD though... some people say you need the clutch type RD some say they have no problems with regular. I'm going to try a DA7800 first and see how it works out. I don't have a bash guard either, but that would be easy to add if I find I loose the chain. Might even help the looks if I can find a polished silver one, since the NW chainring I could not get in silver to match the rest of the drivetrain. Anyone have any suggestions for a polished/silver 130bcd bash guard?

DA 7800 struggles for clearance with a 28t. No way it will work with a 36t. 11-36 is also way too gappy for riding a tt or any serious road racing for that matter. Only application for 1x drivetrain is a flat tt. Anything else you will be compromising. Also front shifting works so well now there is even less reason to get rid of it.