Cheap but at the same time pricey 1x10
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:58 pm
I ordered one of those OneUp Components 42T cassettes last year after Stu posted the link and discount code. I thought it would make a difference to my OO Fatty which I love riding but is a heavy brute on climbs. Id already swapped the original 32T chainring for a RaceFace Narrow Wide 30T ring, but it was still a struggle especially with some kit onboard.
Anyway it arrived yesterday just as the email i got on the weekend said it would. I stuck it on last night and this morning I went for a ride in the mud.
Fitting was easy - just pull off the cassette, install the 42T and spacer and leave out the 17T as you re-install the rest. I didn't need to add any extra links as the chain was already a tiny bit slack since I fit the 30T chainring. All it needed was a twiddle of the B tensioner and it was ready to go.
Works great. The 30x42 gear is very nice. My fitness is rubbish so Im not setting records but I winched myself up some pretty steep stuff. Combined with the Fatty's traction, it was just about unstoppable. The change from 36T up to 42T is not as quick as the standard set up, but it's as fast as any bike I was riding just a couple of years ago and its still very smooth. Ditching the 17T leaves a bigger jump in the gearing from 15T-19T that I noticed for the first half hour or so but by the time I got home it wasn't an issue.
So that's a big thumbs up from me then. Which is good because around £60 is a lot for a single cog, but its given the bike a much wider range of gears that's pretty close to SRAM's 1x11 at a millionth of the price, albeit with a lot of big jumps between the ratios. Typically I am now thinking the 3x9 on my bikepacking friendly Inbred 29er looks outdated heavy and clunky and it would be easy to convert that to 1x10 as well - just need another NArrow Wide 30T chainring, a 10 speed shifter, a 10 speed mech, a 10-speed cassette and a new chain …
Anyway it arrived yesterday just as the email i got on the weekend said it would. I stuck it on last night and this morning I went for a ride in the mud.
Fitting was easy - just pull off the cassette, install the 42T and spacer and leave out the 17T as you re-install the rest. I didn't need to add any extra links as the chain was already a tiny bit slack since I fit the 30T chainring. All it needed was a twiddle of the B tensioner and it was ready to go.
Works great. The 30x42 gear is very nice. My fitness is rubbish so Im not setting records but I winched myself up some pretty steep stuff. Combined with the Fatty's traction, it was just about unstoppable. The change from 36T up to 42T is not as quick as the standard set up, but it's as fast as any bike I was riding just a couple of years ago and its still very smooth. Ditching the 17T leaves a bigger jump in the gearing from 15T-19T that I noticed for the first half hour or so but by the time I got home it wasn't an issue.
So that's a big thumbs up from me then. Which is good because around £60 is a lot for a single cog, but its given the bike a much wider range of gears that's pretty close to SRAM's 1x11 at a millionth of the price, albeit with a lot of big jumps between the ratios. Typically I am now thinking the 3x9 on my bikepacking friendly Inbred 29er looks outdated heavy and clunky and it would be easy to convert that to 1x10 as well - just need another NArrow Wide 30T chainring, a 10 speed shifter, a 10 speed mech, a 10-speed cassette and a new chain …