SRAM XPLR 1x or 2x 46/33t x 10-36t?

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s3si1u
Posts: 73
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:12 am

by s3si1u

I currently have XPLR 1x on my gravel bike. 10-44 with a 40t chainring. Echoing what others have said, I could see myself being dropped on a group ride. I'd like a bigger chainring, but then the low end gearing will suffer severely. 40/44 low gear is barely enough as is, no way I can do with 42/44 or 44/44 for my gravel rides. I don't really miss the 2x on gravel, but I'm starting to see why people go for the mullet setups...

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RoadDonk82
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:43 pm

by RoadDonk82

Echoing what others have said, I could see myself being dropped on a group ride
You guys have really fast gravel rides. You can pedal comfortably to 55km/h (34mph) in 40-10 (assuming 700c wheel and 42mm tire) or maybe even to higher speed if you are comfortable with fast cadence.
Do those rides regularly reach such speeds in places where it's not as fast to just tuck?

As 2x vs 1x for gravel: my first gravel bike was 2x (Shimano di2 46-30 with 11-34 and then 11-32 cassette) and the current one is 1x SRAM XPLR with 40t chainring. I prefer 1x. I had mulitple chain drops with the front derailer when it was very bumpy/muddy. It was nice to have tighter gears but I never miss the range. If I was racing I can see how 2x has benefits in very fast groups but again I think it's more about closer gears than range. 1x is better in a terrain with multiple short steep climbs and then descents as well. 2x will never be as fast and smooth when you need to change from high gear to a low one quickly. If you have long fast straights though then sure, it's annoying to be caught somewhere between 11-13 cog or between 13-15 and struggle to find a comfortable place for the speed the group goes at.

rothwem
Posts: 211
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Location: Asheville, NC

by rothwem

RoadDonk82 wrote:
Wed May 24, 2023 9:56 am
Echoing what others have said, I could see myself being dropped on a group ride
You guys have really fast gravel rides. You can pedal comfortably to 55km/h (34mph) in 40-10 (assuming 700c wheel and 42mm tire) or maybe even to higher speed if you are comfortable with fast cadence.
Do those rides regularly reach such speeds in places where it's not as fast to just tuck?
Hm, I assumed he was talking about road group rides. Even as someone who prefers 1x off-road, I have found the chain line in taller gears to be annoying, I can really feel the drag even if the actual watts being wasted aren't that extreme. I don't think spending much time in a 40-10 would be ideal. I know it's annoying on my 42-11 top gear.

CasualRider
Posts: 118
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by CasualRider

Riding with a group or not has no effect on your gearing. What does though is your fitness level and terrain. gearing will be completely different for someone 5w/kg vs 2w/kg. Also, something to keep in mind is riding in 10th cog is very inefficient. If you're not sure, go with 2x with smaller jumps between gears.
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rothwem
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by rothwem

CasualRider wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 1:24 am
Riding with a group or not has no effect on your gearing. What does though is your fitness level and terrain. gearing will be completely different for someone 5w/kg vs 2w/kg. Also, something to keep in mind is riding in 10th cog is very inefficient. If you're not sure, go with 2x with smaller jumps between gears.
Have you heard of drafting? It's a thing that cyclists tend to do when riding in groups, it makes you go faster than you would otherwise.

CasualRider
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by CasualRider

rothwem wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 1:09 pm
CasualRider wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 1:24 am
Riding with a group or not has no effect on your gearing. What does though is your fitness level and terrain. gearing will be completely different for someone 5w/kg vs 2w/kg. Also, something to keep in mind is riding in 10th cog is very inefficient. If you're not sure, go with 2x with smaller jumps between gears.
Have you heard of drafting? It's a thing that cyclists tend to do when riding in groups, it makes you go faster than you would otherwise.
Drafting has nothing to do with gearing. You can go slight downhill and do same power, cadence and speed as in a big group on flat. Not single coach will tell you that different gearing needed because of drafting. It's just made up problem by beginner cyclists.

Note,
I know a thing or two about cycling, 4.8W/kg, 5-6 big races a year, usualy get a podium in my age group, both road and gravel. Had a coach for 3 years and riding 10 years.

Just trying to make people avoid begginer mistakes and worry about things like engine rather than gearing. Personally I have 1x 46 with 10-44 on my gravel bike and can ride pretty much anything under 11% or super steep but short climbs. But someone with less fitness would need 42 in the front to go through to do the same and ideally 2x.
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JMeinholdt
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by JMeinholdt

I have AXS XPLR 1x on my gravel bike and Force AXS on my road bike. I like the 1x for gravel, but I'd 100% go with 2x if you're doing any kind of road riding. The jumps between teeth on the 10-44T cassette are pretty big and sometimes it's hard for me to find a good cadence when riding road. Gravel it's not as big of a deal.

I have a 42T front also and even with that slighly larger than normal chainring, anything above about 28mph starts to make me feel like I'm undergeared. And there are plenty of times on our spicy group rides that we're pacelining higher than that.
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skinnybex
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by skinnybex

JMeinholdt wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 2:14 pm
I have AXS XPLR 1x on my gravel bike and Force AXS on my road bike. I like the 1x for gravel, but I'd 100% go with 2x if you're doing any kind of road riding. The jumps between teeth on the 10-44T cassette are pretty big and sometimes it's hard for me to find a good cadence when riding road. Gravel it's not as big of a deal.

I have a 42T front also and even with that slighly larger than normal chainring, anything above about 28mph starts to make me feel like I'm undergeared. And there are plenty of times on our spicy group rides that we're pacelining higher than that.
I raced BWR San Diego with my Aspero AXS Xplr 1x, I couldn't keep up with the fast guys on the Tarmac DH sections with my 42t and 10a44t Cassette. Climbs were fine but I was wishing for a 44t chainring just so I wasn't undergeared and I can climb almost anything with a 1-1 ratio. I'll likely go Mullet or 2x on my next gravel race bike.
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hpsims
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:44 pm

by hpsims

I know this is a gravel thread but I was thinking of building a cervelo soloist with 1x xlpr 44front 10-44casette. It's 100% road. Mostly flat but there can be steep local section of 15%. But they are short and rare. Is this a stupid idea and should just go for regular road 2x setup instead. Would I suffer too much on the climbs with 1x. I don't do fast group rides.

maurice1
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by maurice1

hpsims wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:37 pm
I know this is a gravel thread but I was thinking of building a cervelo soloist with 1x xlpr 44front 10-44casette. It's 100% road. Mostly flat but there can be steep local section of 15%. But they are short and rare. Is this a stupid idea and should just go for regular road 2x setup instead. Would I suffer too much on the climbs with 1x. I don't do fast group rides.
1:1 ratio is *okay* for the occasional 15% but in your case the alternative "regular road 2x setup" is unlikely to have a much better gear. What would you run if you had 2x? 43-30 with 11-36? The road 2x will have many other advantages but easier ratios is probably not going to be one.

Either way, for anyone considering SRAM XPLR I think this is a great watch: https://youtu.be/_pQdEFGbYhI?t=61

hpsims
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:44 pm

by hpsims

maurice1 wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 10:03 pm
hpsims wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:37 pm
I know this is a gravel thread but I was thinking of building a cervelo soloist with 1x xlpr 44front 10-44casette. It's 100% road. Mostly flat but there can be steep local section of 15%. But they are short and rare. Is this a stupid idea and should just go for regular road 2x setup instead. Would I suffer too much on the climbs with 1x. I don't do fast group rides.
1:1 ratio is *okay* for the occasional 15% but in your case the alternative "regular road 2x setup" is unlikely to have a much better gear. What would you run if you had 2x? 43-30 with 11-36? The road 2x will have many other advantages but easier ratios is probably not going to be one.

Either way, for anyone considering SRAM XPLR I think this is a great watch: https://youtu.be/_pQdEFGbYhI?t=61
The 2x setup would probably some compact variant 50/34 with 10-33. Obviously the gears are closer together on the 2x setup allowing for better cadence control. The 1x setup is just a thought I had. Clean, simple look. Something also cheaper. But not certain if it's a good idea and will end up regretting it for a pure road bike setup.

andy4g63
Posts: 199
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:02 pm

by andy4g63

ps786 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 8:56 pm
I am building my first bike and is debating between SRAM XPLR 1x 40t x 10-44t or 2x 46/33t x 10-36t. I know the difference is top gear ratio of 4 vs 4.6 and gradience. But what does -0.6 gear ratio translate to real world application?

The gravel bike is going to be 70% gravel (horse, ATV, hiking trails with moderate climb) , 30% road (bi-weekly group ride). I am leaning toward XPLR 1x but is afraid I might not be able to keep up with a group ride.
You can do what I did...
I am too lazy to post a link, but there's a thread under my name using SRAM AXS XPLR as 2x with wide front derailleur and 10-36 and even 10-33 cassette.. Search it you'll find it.

It will work without the wide FD too. I had wide so that's what I used....

My gear combo is 10-36 with 46/33 t chainrings..

Then if you need you swap cassette with XPLR and or chainring...

Garbaruk and Alugear make single chainring with 107 BCD in many combinations...

To be honest I don't know how people say 44-10 as high gear is OKAY...

It is NOT... In most cases when you are on gravel is mixed surface:about 50-50, or 60-40; pavement and gravel...
I am cautious descender, but still many times running over31-33 mph easy.. That's not the limit but I don't like to spin at 100+ cadence on descents... It isn't stable...

On the other hand in most cases 33-36 is OK as low gear on gravel but not perfect.

It is great on the road, but sometimes gravel hills are very steep and on top of that if it is soft with some water and or muddy,

This adds XTRA difficulty to the climb, then it looks like it is STEEPER because of that soo it is all up to you or how strong you are...

Best of all is a little compromise as always...

Running mullet with 46 t front chainring and rear 10-52 cassette seems Ok for gravel and in most cases sufficient for road/not is you are doing mountainous ride and have a lot of long and steep descents, then you'll run out of gear but in most cases OK...

I also had a recent conversation with Absolute Black and they should release subcompact rings for SRAM AXS soon.

I hope this can help 🤞

Cheers

plrww
Posts: 31
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by plrww

RoadDonk82 wrote:
Wed May 24, 2023 9:56 am
2x will never be as fast and smooth when you need to change from high gear to a low one quickly
I'm not sure I understand this. 2x allows a really quick front change typically worth three gear changes in the rear. Surely it is faster to use the front derailleur if a fast change is needed. I understand there are differences in front shifting smoothness between different groupsets and Shimano being the gold standard.

maurice1
Posts: 143
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Location: Jura

by maurice1

andy4g63 wrote:
Thu Jun 08, 2023 1:35 pm
ps786 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 8:56 pm
I am building my first bike and is debating between SRAM XPLR 1x 40t x 10-44t or 2x 46/33t x 10-36t. I know the difference is top gear ratio of 4 vs 4.6 and gradience. But what does -0.6 gear ratio translate to real world application?

The gravel bike is going to be 70% gravel (horse, ATV, hiking trails with moderate climb) , 30% road (bi-weekly group ride). I am leaning toward XPLR 1x but is afraid I might not be able to keep up with a group ride.
To be honest I don't know how people say 44-10 as high gear is OKAY...

It is NOT... In most cases when you are on gravel is mixed surface:about 50-50, or 60-40; pavement and gravel...
I am cautious descender, but still many times running over31-33 mph easy.. That's not the limit but I don't like to spin at 100+ cadence on descents... It isn't stable...

On the other hand in most cases 33-36 is OK as low gear on gravel but not perfect.
I'm never going to believe you people. I would already be rolling eyes if you told me you were spinning out 44-10 on the road. Is your FTP in the 700s or do you value a downhill KOM more than your collarbone?

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LeDuke
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Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

A 44x10 at 90rpm on 38mm tires is 32.2mph.

100rpm would get you above 35mph.


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