Yet, for others, that seriously changes the fun factor and ruins the ride.ġ. For some riding situations it’s not a big deal. It can be a liberating feeling, and for some people, range not a big deal. The main thing you give up is Gearing Range - which has some significant ramifications - discussed below. Less Complication – Without the FD, shifter, and cable, there is less to adjust, and less to go wrong. Lighter Weight – Loose the other chainring, but also the front derailleur, the shifter and the cable.Ģ. The single front chainring systems offer some good advantages:ġ. The answer to that question is different for each person, and often for each situation. There are advantages, and also disadvantages, so the big question is really “What is right for you?” Of course single front chainrings are not all fad, but a good indication is how well it’s accepted and how well it propagates from year to year. As they have promoted it, others have hopped on the bandwagon offering single front chainrings too. Then, SRAM introduced the XX1, which addressed a big concern with single front rings by combining a wide ratio 11-Speed cassette.
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Single front rings are obviously not new, even in professional competition, but it has not been a mainstream standard in performance bikes. At about the same time, the industry moved to 11-speed with road bikes (oddly enough expanding ratio range and minimizing steps) while production mountain bikes started to appear more with single front chainrings. First it was the change from standard triples with mountain bikes, to what we typically call 2x10s. Now, we’re starting to see a change in that trend - from CVT’s, Continuously Variable Transmission (hubs), to dropping front chainrings. The desire for range has continued to move the industry from single front chainrings to doubles to triples with more and more ratios in the rear. As technology evolved, bicycles first started having multiple gear ratios in the rear with multi-speed hubs, then external gears. The first bikes had, of course, no chainrings, but later, as drive systems were created, they included a single front chainring.
People have been riding and racing single front chainrings for … well, forever. Of course that’s an exaggeration, but as they become more common on high-end bikes the discussions about a single up front become more involved. In this case, tradition has generally stood with a single front chainring for single speed bikes (think kids bikes), city type bikes, and the “grandma” bikes with multi-speed hubs. So many arguments about the use of a single front chainring versus a double or triple. There are always sides to a discussion involving tradition and emotion.