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Swapped to a 1x drivetrain on a customer's gravel bike last month
They wanted it for simplicity, but I warned them about the bigger jumps between gears. After a 50 mile test ride, they said they missed the fine tuning on long climbs. Anyone else have customers regret dropping a chainring?
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holly_flores791mo ago
Sounds like they just needed to get used to the new setup.
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holly4722d ago
...and honestly I'm with @holly_flores79 on this one, but not for the reason you'd think. It's not just about getting used to the setup, it's about how we build bikes now. We put 1x on everything like it's the holy grail, but forget that gravel riding isn't just one kind of terrain. You're gonna hit a steep climb on pavement one minute, then a loose fire road the next, and those gaps between gears start to feel real wide real quick. The whole "simplicity" argument falls apart when you're stuck mashing a gear that's either too tall or too spinny. Why are we pretending like two chainrings are impossible to manage? I swear half the industry just wants to sell new drivetrains every few years.
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fiona_murray1mo ago
My shop in Boulder sees this all the time. I sold a guy on a 1x last year and he came back two weeks later looking for his old front shifter. I told him I'd already used it as a keychain. Sometimes we're so focused on selling the simple solution we forget people actually like having all their gears.
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