1x10 Conversion - This is for the tech heads!

Back when I was a kid, how good your bike was depended entirely on how many gears it had.  Once BMX had died off and mountain bikes were starting to make an appearance it didn't matter if your bike had a total shed of a frame, if there we're lots of gears it would be all 'whooooaaahhh rad' (it was the early 90's!).  For me at first it was 6, then 21, 24, then 27.  Personally I stuck at that but if you wanted you can now hit 30, even 33!  The thing is, (and forgive me people who live in largely flat areas, ride MTB on the road (why?!) or run their tyres at 60psi and have never seen a singletrack) I can't see the point of a big ring on a mountain bike.  They add weight, accentuate chain line issues, smash into the occasional rock and leave a comedy grease stain on the legs of people who don't clean their bikes properly.  Realising all these things, a couple of years ago I swapped all mine for bashrings, 27 became 18, brilliant!  

The finished set up.  Silent, simple and beautiful!  Not sure what the purple line is but it looks cool!

Next in the evolution was the realisation that a chain guide would be a great idea.  Here in the Mournes we have some steep, rocky, rooty tracks which when hit at speed will happily chuck your rattling chain off the inside into your nice expensive frame.  With this becoming a regularity I whacked out some cash and got an E13 Heim double ring chain guide.  I enjoyed a happy year with my chain largely staying put and 18 was still 18.

I have always been fond of clean lines and minimal faff on bikes.  I remember envying a friend John's singlespeed conversion at University (but not as much as he envied our gears when we left him behind on most hills).  The lack of fuss on the bars and around the cranks was beautiful, almost seemed like an analogy for a simpler life and that image stuck with me for a long time.  The onset of monster range 11-36 tooth cassettes as well as the persuasiveness of Dirt Magazine set me wondering whether I could get away with ditching the granny, binning the front mech and seeing off the shifter to go 1x10?  As an experiment I rode the local trails without using my 22 tooth get out clause for a while and once I'd cleared everything without dabs the decision was made, 18 would become 10.

Moments of doubt had me scouring the net for 30 tooth middle rings but bar some obscure Canadian companies I turned nothing up so it was time to trust my fitness and MTFU.  I opted for a single ring specific E13 32 tooth chainring with a BB mounted E13 top only chain guide and the crowning glory was the 2013 Saint Mech with the clutchy thing.  All bolted together easily, looked clean and beautiful and most importantly for me ran totally silent.

Oh yes!  Totally silent.  No grindy front mech changes, no chain slap or rattle, all I hear is the tyres on the trail.  This alone has made the conversion worthwhile. 

Do I miss the gears?  No, not yet... honestly!  I can't really see why a granny ring is needed for 99% of trail riding.  Yes, I've got a good set of legs and yes I like to suffer a bit but truthfully I still haven't got off the bike and pushed due to having no super low gears.  In fact, I've had to wind in the stop screw and shut off the 36 tooth cog because Shimano were right about not using a 36t cog with the new Saint short cage rear mech (I obviously totally ignored this and bent a hanger in half laying the power down because the mech arm is so inflexible and the chainline was a bit extreme).  So now 32/34 is my lowest option and it's doing me fine.  10 has become 9!

Can I recommend the 1x10 conversion?  Definitely.  If you are fit, enjoy having a silent, more simple bike, like to have less to break, clean or replace, don't ever want to drop a chain again and don't live in the Alps then this truly is the future.  With SPAM's (sorry I meant SRAM's) 1x11 with the 42 tooth monster cassette I really think the front mech is an endangered species.  Obviously some people would beg to differ but some people think mountain biking is about how fast you can lap a forest road.

All in it cost a few hundred £££'s but could be done a lot cheaper and with an old 9 speed Saint mech, an XTR front shifter and front mech, 9 speed cassette and XTR chain and two chainrings to e-bay it's safe to say I could end up making on the deal.

So no drawbacks then.... although if you do see me someday limping along the trails, miles from home with my bulging calfs exploding with cramp as I bite back tears of frustration and pain, please take pity and give me a push and in return I promise not to laugh as you twiddle your 22/34 at 200 RPM!

For anyone who has fought through this techy nonsense because they liked the previous tales of epic running struggles with adversity I apologise.  I'll be out hurting myself in the hills and blogging the outcome again soon.  Happy trails....