As far as I'm concerned, there is only one option for a 1x8/9/10/whatever drive train, which is a wide-narrow chainring up front.
I race cross with a single 42t up front and a 12-25 in the back. The chainring is made by Wolf Tooth Components (what a name!), though there are many other wide-narrow manufacturers now, such as Absolute Black, Sram, others.. Wolf Tooth was the first to offer it in smaller BCDs for compact cranks, which are 'cross friendly. The wide-narrow ring idea is pretty self explanatory - every other tooth is wider, so it takes up the extra space between the outer chain links. I've been able to ride in my smallest cog (where the chain is the under the least tension) over all kinds of rough and bumpy terrain. I can see and hear my chain flapping all over the place, and have never dropped it once. The benefit is also that you don't need a chain keeper at all, which gives the bike a nice clean look, avoids jamming your chain into a keeper, and I guess saves some inconsequential amount of weight. I can't recommend them enough, it's been a great experience! I love riding with a single up front. On Sunday, June 15, 2014 7:12:45 AM UTC-5, Tony DeFilippo wrote: > > I finally got curious enough to try removing my front shifting and trying > to go just my center 36T front ring w/ my 8 speed rear cassette. After a > full week of commuting and bopping around on my Saluki I'm a fan but there > are some things that will need to happen. Couple observations; > > -My commute is very flat anyway, I've been doing it on and off single > speed on my XO3 anyway so reducing gears wasn't going to be a problem > -Not having to trim the front derailleur as I shift in the rear is the #1 > plus in my books > -As the week went on I made bolder multi cog shifts with my rear shifter > (silver friction shifter) which definitely added some pep and interest to > my ride > -I'm not sure why it didn't happen till Th-Fri but I started dropping the > chain or ghost shifting the front chain off of the 36T... > > I think I liked the benefits enough to pursue fixing the chain slippage... > I'm curious what others may have found as the best products as there are > plenty out there. I'm running a Sugino triple crank right now 24-36-46. I > think I'd like to go either; > > -single ring chain ring ~40T w/ chainkeeper > -keep the triple, put a ~40T in the middle, replace outer ring w/ chain > guard and install a chain guide/stop > -keep the triple as above, jury rig a FD to act as chainkeeper > > I'm sure there must be others... any thoughts? > > Tony > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
