I’m currently on an Artemis (small production bike from Meral).
It’s got a semi internal routing, with the routing at the headset. Currently on a Rival 1 (11sp mechanical).
While the shifting part itself is quite good, the brakes are anything but, so I’m kinda thinking about changing the groupset.
I first had the idea of switching the caliper to some Hope RX4, but the reviews seems to concur that if the installation is anything but perfect, you’re gonna have problems.
So, groupset wise : I had two ideas.
GRX610, cheaper option, I prefer the hood ergonomics, but not sure how it will go with the headset routing, and I’ll have to buy both a new freewheel and bottom bracket.
Rival E1, bit more cost. Hood ergonomics are okay but I like them a bit less than Shimano. Nothing else to change on the bike, but I’ll have to deal with batteries both for the derailleur and the shifters. Pros : the hard chrome chain wear significantly less than chains from Shimano.
I did took a look at electronic options from Shimano, but in addition to freewheel and BB, the cost is significantly higher than the both I talked about.
To stick with full groupset, wouldn’t you need a new freehub for GRX610 as well, if staying 1x?
What freehub do you have at the moment? If it’s XD, you could do what I do and run a SRAM cassette and chain with the Shimano GRX group. Shifting won’t be as good as full Shimano, but it’s ok.
Got both HG and XDR freehub for my wheel. Did a few tries, a a Rival 1 works perfectly with a Shimano MTB cassette. You don’t get that 10 teeth cog, but the rest works really well.
I helped a friend put Hope RX4 calipers onto a gravel bike with SRAM 11 speed mechanical (I don’t recall if he has Force or Rival). There is a little fiddling to set them up without any rubbing, but we’ve always been able to do that, and overall it’s worked great for ~4 years. So if you’re ok with the drivetrain and mechanical shifting, that’s probably what I’d do.
Sorry, I’m confused. GRX 610 is 12 speed, and Shimano only do 1x12 speed cassettes in microspline format. If you want to go 12 speed with HG, you’ll need a low end SRAM cassette or something from the likes of Sun Race.
The Sunrace 11-50 12 speed HG cassettes shift really well IME - zero problems there, and not something to worry about. (Their 11 speed cassettes are good too.)