Brian Johnson
Hi Adam,
Last summer I switched to a 1x9 on my "hard tail" MTB. So far I like it. I don't miss the 22 or 44 rings-- granted, I've only been riding in Forest Park, but going up Holman, Firelane 3, and Springville have not been problems with a low of 34x34. Cross-chaining and chain suck are no longer an issue. I only ever used the large ring to take up slack in the chain during down hill runs or when riding on pavement.
I run a bashguard and 3rd Eye Chain Keeper to keep the chain on the chainring. That's worked out great with no jumping. However, I've discovered that with the chain in the lowest gears (largest couple of sprockets in the back) if I pedal backwards just a quarter revolution the chain will drop off the ring because of the angle of the chain from the large rear sprocket to the chainring (in its middle ring position on the crankarm). For this reason I'd recommend something like the MRP keeper. I'd switch myself if I weren't retiring the bike for a full suspension build with 2x10. I think a bashguard sandwich would just result in lots of noise in low and high gears (I had to insert some washers to keep the chain from rubbing on the bashguard in high gear.
If you're going to be buying new components, maybe you should consider a 2x10 system (like Shimano's DynaSys) you get a good wide range with none of the downsides of a triple crankset.
Cheers!
Brian J.
> Hey All,
>
> I've been running 1x10 on my cross bike for 3 years and I love it. Simple, less moving parts, etc. I'm thinking of doing the same on my mtn bike this year, to try it out. For those of you running a 1x10, what have your experiences been? Any durability issues? SRAM vs Shimano? Were the lost gears (large or small) an issue that you noticed?
>
> What system do you recommend to keep from dropping a chain on a full sus bike? A "closed top" system like MRP or Pauls, or an "open top" system like a bashguard sandwich or bash/jumpstop combo?
>
> I'd love to hear any feedback, good or bad, off-list.
>
> If I decide to go forward, I may be looking for some 1x10 parts - rear der, rear shifter, 10sp 36t cassette, so if you've got something you're not using, let me know. I'm thinking or going with either XT or SLX, or a combo.
>
> Thanks!