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Shimano DIY 1x 9 speed

by Canyon48
Sat, Apr 30, 2016 23:51
19

Hi All,

So here we have my Shimano DIY 1x (aka DI-1-by - see what I did there…) set up, works beautifully on my cross/commuter bike!

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a539/Ben2BS/IMG_3334_zpscictq6jr.jpg

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a539/Ben2BS/IMG_3343_zpsikyw1j1b.jpg

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a539/Ben2BS/IMG_3342_zpsmepxj5bt.jpg

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a539/Ben2BS/IMG_3345_zpskox3nxzu.jpg

So to cut a long story short, I converted my 2010 Giant Seek 4 to drop bars and STI’s, 3x8 speed, clunky and heavy. Got fed up of the appalling performance of the front triple so swapped it out for an FSA 50/34. Recently upgraded my road bike to 105 11 speed, so the Tiagra 9 speed shifters and cassette from my road bike got put on my cross bike.

I spend a lot of time commuting on my cross bike and, even when cyclocross-ing, never use the whole 50/34 11/32 range, instead I seem to spend a lot of time shifting between the big and little rings. I managed to pick up a 42t chainring for less than a tenner from good old ebay, and I stuck that on.

Simples. Shimano 1x set up that works excellently around town, the 42/11 high ratio is more than enough fast enough for commuting and cyclocross, though the 42/30 is somewhat hard to push uphill with my panniers etc, so I have an 11-34 cassette on the way!

My bike looks a lot cooler now and it’s lost about half a kg in weight (still 10kgs though!).

Cost of this cheap conversion

Tiagra shifters - free
Rear mech - £15
Chainring - £10
Chainring bolts - £1.50
Cassette - free (though buying a new one to tackle hills £15)

Not bad considering I should make back a fair bit selling all the other bits and bobs that came off my bikes during their upgrades!

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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19 comments

Avatar
JohnnyRoyal | 8 years ago
0 likes

Bikes looking great

 I am fairly new to the different options of kit that you can get on a bike, so don't know a lot.

I am looking at getting a new road bike from my LBS which will be built there. The owner said that he will be using a single ring at the front and XTR Rear with a 11-36 XT cassette. I need the bike for sportive riding, so hills will be involved.

do you think this will be a good idea?

or should I  buy a bike from another store, I like the look of the Gian Defy 1 disc

thanks 

John 

 

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to JohnnyRoyal | 8 years ago
0 likes
JohnnyRoyal wrote:

Bikes looking great

 I am fairly new to the different options of kit that you can get on a bike, so don't know a lot.

I am looking at getting a new road bike from my LBS which will be built there. The owner said that he will be using a single ring at the front and XTR Rear with a 11-36 XT cassette. I need the bike for sportive riding, so hills will be involved.

do you think this will be a good idea?

or should I  buy a bike from another store, I like the look of the Gian Defy 1 disc

thanks 

John 

 

It really depends on what you want. A 36t could give you an easier gear than a compact chainset could offer. It might leave you a little undergeared for high speed descents.

It comes down to your fitness and what you intend to use the bike for. If you want to do long road rides I'd recommend a compact/semi compact as it allows you to find a good cadence (particularly with the small jumps of 11 speed).

If you arent too fussy about being able to finely tune your cadence and youre willing too lose maybe one or two gears at the top end then 1x may suit you.

Ive really got on well with 1x on my cross commuter bike as I have no need for very high gears (I.e 50 11) and im not too fussy about not having small gear jumps.

that said I wouldnt have 1x on my road bike due to smaller gear range and larger gear jumps.

If you really want to go through It carefully you can calculate and compare tue gear ratios that 1x and compact chainsets will give you.

Avatar
Canyon48 | 8 years ago
2 likes

All done!

Avatar
Canyon48 | 8 years ago
0 likes

The rear mech I've got is an Acera M390 long cage, capable of taking up to a 34t.

The chain I'm using is from my road bike (the bike from which I took the shifters etc after upgrading it) so the chain was optimised for a 50/30 range that I had been running.

When using the 1x I have a 42/34 low gear and it the change wont shift to the 34t well, it tends to sit on top of the teeth and slip on or off.

I'll give a go with the B screw, but the problem isn't the clearance, the rear mech just seems ot be pulled very tight and I think that's messing up the shifting.

Avatar
tincaman | 8 years ago
2 likes

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to tincaman | 8 years ago
0 likes

tincaman wrote:

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

 

Now that's just awesome. Im currently running an 11-28 which is fine most the time but leaves me somewhat out of gears on the hillier bits of my uni commute. Not particularly good when I'm hauling an 11.5 kg bike! It's not exaclty light haha

I have ordered an 11-34t cassette which should work well with my 42t chainring, it'll give me a very similar easy gear as that of a semi compact chainset thats on my road bike.

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to tincaman | 8 years ago
0 likes

tincaman wrote:

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

COuld you tell me what chain length you hve by any chance? I've jsut bought an 11/34 cassette and it won't sit on the 34t sprocket correctly even wiht a 54" chain >.<

Avatar
tincaman replied to Canyon48 | 8 years ago
0 likes

wellsprop wrote:

tincaman wrote:

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

COuld you tell me what chain length you hve by any chance? I've jsut bought an 11/34 cassette and it won't sit on the 34t sprocket correctly even wiht a 54" chain >.<

Chain length won't affect how it sits on the cassette, that will be your limit screw or your B screw may need winding right in. After replacing a cassette is quite normal to have to set things up again.

Avatar
DaveE128 replied to tincaman | 8 years ago
0 likes
tincaman wrote:

wellsprop wrote:

tincaman wrote:

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

COuld you tell me what chain length you hve by any chance? I've jsut bought an 11/34 cassette and it won't sit on the 34t sprocket correctly even wiht a 54" chain >.<

Chain length won't affect how it sits on the cassette, that will be your limit screw or your B screw may need winding right in. After replacing a cassette is quite normal to have to set things up again.

You're right that the B-tensiom screw is important here, but chain tension can be a factor with mechs where the top jockey wheel is not concentric with the cage pivot.

However, the most likely problem is that the mech can't cope with the size of cassette you have - check the spec sheet of the mech you are using for the maximum sprocket size. You can sometimes get away with a couple of teeth more than stated, but it may run a bit rough. On some mechs replacing the b-tension screw with a longer one will increase the size of maximum sprocket it will handle.

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to tincaman | 8 years ago
0 likes

tincaman wrote:

wellsprop wrote:

tincaman wrote:

My Canyon Inflite now runs a Sora front crank with a Narrow Wide 38T from Superstarcomponents, plus a 11 speed Sram 11-36T cassette with 105 5800 rear mech. It runs out of steam at about 28mph, but enable me to climb any if the hills in Devon

COuld you tell me what chain length you hve by any chance? I've jsut bought an 11/34 cassette and it won't sit on the 34t sprocket correctly even wiht a 54" chain >.<

Chain length won't affect how it sits on the cassette, that will be your limit screw or your B screw may need winding right in. After replacing a cassette is quite normal to have to set things up again.

 

You sir, are correct! Forgot about winding in the B screw, oops. B screw wound right in and it's all working lovely now.

Avatar
BBB | 8 years ago
4 likes

And in a full glory 1

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to BBB | 8 years ago
1 like

BBB wrote:

And in a full glory 1

Ooooh that's rather nice!

Avatar
BBB | 8 years ago
0 likes

Good job.

 

44x11-25 10sp on my summer road bike. Never understood the need for 50x11 BTW

Wolfteeth narrow wide chainring works exactly as advertised. Not  a single chain drop.

Loving it  1

Avatar
StraelGuy | 8 years ago
1 like

Here you go:

 

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Redvee | 8 years ago
0 likes

Back in the 90's I was running 1x8 on my Alpine Stars bike. From memory it was a 42T shimano chainset on the inside of the spider with a butchered 48T ring outside the spider, butchered cause I cut and filed the teeth off the chainring to make a chainguard, rear mech was a low end Shimano short cage with a '105' sticker on it with a Sachs Wavey shifter and a 12-28 8 speed cassette.

I did miss out at the top and bottom end of the gear range but for the riding I was doing it was ideal.

Avatar
bikebot | 8 years ago
0 likes

I have  a similar setup on my general bike.  I used an alfine chainset on the front, picked up for about £35 as a clearance item.  They work fine with deraulleurs as well as hub gears, and the chainguard means I can ride it in most everyday clothes.

And with Sora or Tiagra shifters used as 1x, you can now mount a light without a gear cable getting in the way 3

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to bikebot | 8 years ago
0 likes

bikebot wrote:

I have  a similar setup on my general bike.  I used an alfine chainset on the front, picked up for about £35 as a clearance item.  They work fine with deraulleurs as well as hub gears, and the chainguard means I can ride it in most everyday clothes.

And with Sora or Tiagra shifters used as 1x, you can now mount a light without a gear cable getting in the way 3

I did look into getting a chain gaurd as I ride this bike to the shops farily often, but the Stronglight chainring isn't compatible, oh well. And don't get me started on chain catchers, £50 for a CX single speed chain catcher?!

Good point about the light though! Always annoying to have a massive shadow of a cable 10

Avatar
StraelGuy | 8 years ago
0 likes

Nice job. I run my 1991 Dave Yates MTB as a 1x9er. Done ~ 2,500 road miles on it and never missed the extra gears!

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to StraelGuy | 8 years ago
0 likes

guyrwood wrote:

Nice job. I run my 1991 Dave Yates MTB as a 1x9er. Done ~ 2,500 road miles on it and never missed the extra gears!

Cheers! You got any pics of that, interested to see what other people have come up with!

I've found that a 50/11 ratio is just ridiculous for commuting and cx, I mean at 100 RPM that equates to 37mph, which is totally uneeded!

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