I’m thinking of converting my TT/Tri bike to 1x for next year, I won’t be riding anything that needs the small ring so can make some small gains there. Am I right in thinking that effectively all I need is to remove both rings from the spider, and refix the big ring with some single ring bolts?
And my other half of the question, I’m running mechanical shifting, and will be wanting to put the small ring back on for 27 for some hilly races. Is there any way I can run something in the frame to make rethreading it easier without leaving the outer cable installed, or is this not really an option?
Hi Phil,
If nothing else, I’d run a bit of string through when removing the front shifter cable. I’ve done that when converting my MTB into singlespeed for events. I just tape the string out of the way at each end so it’s easy to use that to pull the shifter cable back through when want it again.
I converted my Cervelo P2 a couple of years back (video on YouTube if you search), but I didn’t leave any way to easily rerun the cable, which would be a faff.
I changed to a narrow wide chainring but you may not need to if it’s not that bumpy. But it gave me some extra confidence. I also swapped the crankset but mostly because I hated the previous bottom bracket. But such a crankset would give you a more central chainline than just the big ring.
Best practice would be to get a proper narrow-wide chainring ( which may have an offset chainline but I don’t think that’s really necessary), and/or a clutched rear derailleur. I did both when I converted my trip bike some years back. It was a one-way conversion though. If you really think you might need that little ring up front on the future, why go 1x at all?
Definitely use at least one of the clutched RD or narrow-wide. Not having either is a definite chain-drop risk. Learned from cold, hard experience. And for road TT purposes, having a chain guide in place of the FD just seems a bit silly. I use the narrow-wide ring and conventional road RD.
And you never know about the future! So keeping a path backward is nice.
Definitely get a narrow-wide ring, you can probably skip the clutch RD - they also cost you a couple of watts of drag. Drag2Zero make well-made, well-priced alloy chainrings.
Also, if you’re looking for gains go as big as possible on the front ring; there’s a further couple watts to be saved from keeping a good chainline.