Converting an older bike to 1x9 (or 1x10/11)

[ADKmike]

Have an extra bike that I want to play around with modifying, and wanted to go to a 1x setup for as cheap as possible.

Specs that may matter:

Crankset: FSA V-Drive Integrated spindle 22/32/44T
Bottom bracket: FSA MegaEXO External Bearing System
Rear Derail: Shimano XT 2009 Shadow
Shifters: Shimano SLX RapidFirePlus 27 speed SL-M660 Dual Release
Castette: Shimano Ultegra 6500 cassette 9 speed 12-27T

What would I HAVE to replace, what could I get away with, what do I need to add (chain guide?) etc....

Thanks

[ACH]

You can live without the chain guide if you go with a narrow/wide tooth profile chain ring.
With 9s your biggest issue is going to be gearing in the rear (IMO) as I think 32t is the limit in the front (?).
If you live in a place where you don't need super low gear range that might be OK tho?

With that said, to go 1x10, you would be looking at:
10s Shifter
10s R-der
Cable casing
10s Cassette
Chain
Chain ring

[detrusor]

Just did that to the wife's bike.

Need narrow wide chainring, der, shifter, cogs, chain.

Stupid easy.

I went off of eBay and it was all less than $200. Not sure what the going rate is.

[Dee Hubbs]

Remove the the 22 and 44T front chainrings.
Remove the the front derailleur, cable and front shifter.
That gets you a 1x9. Now the problems you run into are:
Gear ratio: 34:29 is your lowest gear. do you need more than that to climb the hill where you ride?
Chain retention: the XT 9s shadow does not have a clutch. So chainring drops would be an issue. or you could buy a chain guide to keep the chain on. This is a bare bones option.

If you want to spend $250 on it you can do it right. Buy an upgrade kit form Chainreation and you have a good running system. It will have an 11 speed shifter, 11speed cassette (that fits your free hub no problem) an 11 speed clutch derailleur and an 11 speed chain. You can switch your crank if you want, or you can just buy an 104 BCD narrow wide ring for your existing cranks.

[jm2e]

Have To Have:
1. 10sp SLX clutch derailleur. This will work with your 9sp shifter and your 9sp cassette. Buy one from someone who just went to 11sp.
2. N/W chainring. 104 bcd. Buy a used one from a mag.
3. Shorter chainring bolts OR spacers. Your currents bolts go through the middle AND large chainring.
4. Inner shift cable.

This will get you a fully functioning 1x9 drivetrain for about $100. You'll be able to "upgrade" to a 10sp cassette and shifter once you're hooked.

[radam]

I'm in the middle of a 1x10 to 1x11 upgrade. Might be able to work out a deal later in the week. PM me if you're interested

[Damian Sanders]

YOU DO NOT NEED A CLUTCH DERAILLEUR WITH A NARROW WIDE RING. The chain will stay on no problem, unless you're doing rough DH and harsh drops.

[Damian Sanders]

Have To Have:
1. 10sp SLX clutch derailleur. This will work with your 9sp shifter and your 9sp cassette. Buy one from someone who just went to 11sp.

Not only do you not need a clutch derailleur, cable pull is different between 9-speed and 10-speed. This will not work.

[jm2e]

The 10sp derailleur shouldn't know what kind of system it's on. It's the shifter that's indexed for 9sp, right?

[Damian Sanders]

Have an extra bike that I want to play around with modifying, and wanted to go to a 1x setup for as cheap as possible.

Specs that may matter:

Crankset: FSA V-Drive Integrated spindle 22/32/44T
Bottom bracket: FSA MegaEXO External Bearing System
Rear Derail: Shimano XT 2009 Shadow
Shifters: Shimano SLX RapidFirePlus 27 speed SL-M660 Dual Release
Castette: Shimano Ultegra 6500 cassette 9 speed 12-27T

What would I HAVE to replace, what could I get away with, what do I need to add (chain guide?) etc....

Thanks

Absolutely cheapest - remove the FD, rings, and make a chainguide:

http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-sh...de-659736.html

Most legit cheap setup - Get a Sunrace 9 spd 11-36t cassette and a 30T 104mm narrow wide chainring. Then the chain guide becomes optional. About $80 total if you shop around online. You absolutely want to drop another $15 on a new chain while you're at it, and might as well replace the derailleur cable if it's gritty. If the shifter and derailleur are in good shape, it will shift like a new bike.

They also offer a 11-40t 9spd (it's new) but it will be far harder to setup to shift well than the 36t.

[Damian Sanders]

The 10sp derailleur shouldn't know what kind of system it's on. It's the shifter that's indexed for 9sp, right?

Cable pull is common between Shimano 10 / 11 speed, and most SRAM.

Shimano 9, 8, 7 speed are common and have shorter pull.

There is a Shimano hybrid bike shifter that is 10 speed and works with 9-speed derailleurs, but I'd hesitate to use it.

[jamal]

This depends on road vs mountain. You can put a shimano 10-speed road derailleur on 9-speed road shifters and it will work just fine as a 9-speed bike.

The same is not true for mountain bikes. The geometry of the derailleur changed.

It's possible you can use a shimano 11s mtn derailleur with 10s mtn shifters as well but given shimano makes clutched 10s RDs that would be pointless.


This page lists all the different specs and what might be compatible:

http://blog.artscyclery.com/science-...compatibility/

So anyway, make sure you get a matching shifter, derailleur, cassette, and chain. You can put either a sram or shimano 10 speed cassette on your current hub. 11s gets a little more complicated because of sram's xd freehub, but the shimano 11s mountain cassette still goes on the old hubs.

I just finally ordered all the stuff to go 1x11:
Sram GX shifter
Sram GX derailleur
Shimano 11-42 XT cassette
Shimano HG-601 chain
One-up 32t chainring (it was on sale).

Total came to about $250 and the chainring goes straight on my cranks in place of the 4-bolt spider which is convenient.

[jm2e]

radam is your best option

[Damian Sanders]

It's possible you can use a shimano 11s mtn derailleur with 10s mtn shifters as well but given shimano makes clutched 10s RDs that would be pointless.

Actually, the shimano 11 speed derailleurs have an offset cage pivot that works much better with wide range cassettes.

[jm2e]

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/u.../rp-prod126348
Wow. Great options for you out there!

[Damian Sanders]

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/u.../rp-prod126348
Wow. Great options for you out there!

If you're going 10speed and aren't very concerned about weight, I'd strongly advise a sunrace 11-40t cassette, which that package doesn't offer.

Most 10-speed shimano derailleurs will work ok with 40t cogs, but can be a bit sketchy with 42t.

[ADKmike]

I'm in the middle of a 1x10 to 1x11 upgrade. Might be able to work out a deal later in the week. PM me if you're interested

OK cool I might be

[ADKmike]

Remove the the 22 and 44T front chainrings.
Remove the the front derailleur, cable and front shifter.
That gets you a 1x9. Now the problems you run into are:
Gear ratio: 34:29 is your lowest gear. do you need more than that to climb the hill where you ride?
Chain retention: the XT 9s shadow does not have a clutch. So chainring drops would be an issue. or you could buy a chain guide to keep the chain on. This is a bare bones option.

Just curious and trying to learn here - if the bike was run on the middle chainring in it's current setup...why all of a sudden do chain drops become an issue just because you've removed the other two chainrings...when they would otherwise not be impacting the middle chainring anyways? Is it because you've removed the front derailuer? Same question though...when it's not in motion shifting chainrings isn't it just sitting there and out of the equation?

[Dantheman]

Is it because you've removed the front derailuer? Same question though...when it's not in motion shifting chainrings isn't it just sitting there and out of the equation?

Yes. The FD cage prevents more chain drops than you realize even when it's just sitting there. Ramped/pinned rings are designed to decouple from the chain easily, that's why they shift well. NW chainring would prevent most drops even without a clutched RD. Depends on the terrain though.

[ADKmike]

I'm weighing out upgrading to a 1x10 vs making a 1x9 that would work on the cheap, since I'd be able to retain my shifter and RD. Looking at a Sunrace 11-36 or a 11-40 and a NW ring. Maybe leave FD cage on there as a guide and pull the rest.

Could I run a 11-40 with the specs I listed in my original post?
https://www.amazon.com/Sunrace-casse...eywords=CSM990

If I was to go 11-36 or 11-40, would 30T ring be the best bet?

[jamal]

This is really useful for comparing your current ratios and potential new ones:

http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

So if your current low gear is 24x32, that is 19.8 gear inches. 30x40 is exactly the same, 32x40 and 30x36 are similar but slightly taller.

My old big ring barely has teeth left on it. Not a great picture but you can see the difference here

[ADKmike]

So if I'm understanding this correctly:


My current lowest gear is 22x27, 21.30 gear inches

If I run a 30x36 I could achieve just shy of this ratio (30x37 matches it)

If I run a 30x40, I'd have an even lower gear (19.72 inches)

So if I wanted to end up with no change in gearing, I'd essentially have to get a 11-36 and a 30T NW ring...?

[radam]

Yeah, 11-36 w/ a 30T ring will be basically the same low gear as your current setup, and would be a high gear that should be plenty for most trail riding.

FWIW, using a N/W ring only many not really be enough to prevent dropped chains. YMMV obviously, but around here I definitely find a clutch derailleur to be benefical. There's also the argument that the reduction in chain slap that you get with a clutch derailleur is worth even more than the chain retention, if you in any way value a quiet bike.

[ADKmike]

Cool - ok....a lot of options out there! This would be my first bike wrenching project...skilled automotive gearhead so I'm not concerned...

Would still like to collect some more info on 11-40 9sp setup and shift issues though...

[Damian Sanders]

I'm weighing out upgrading to a 1x10 vs making a 1x9 that would work on the cheap, since I'd be able to retain my shifter and RD. Looking at a Sunrace 11-36 or a 11-40 and a NW ring. Maybe leave FD cage on there as a guide and pull the rest.

Could I run a 11-40 with the specs I listed in my original post?
https://www.amazon.com/Sunrace-casse...eywords=CSM990

If I was to go 11-36 or 11-40, would 30T ring be the best bet?

I'm currently running a 9-speed 11-40t, made with an XT cassette, E13 cog, and spare 14t cog. I'm using M972 shadow derailleur which I had to make custom offset pivot cage for so it would track the cogs better an shift clean on the 14t cog that doesn't have proper hyper glide alignment. I'm swapping this setup to another bike and going 10-speed.

Anyway, you may be able to use the 11-40t with your XT shadow derailleur, but it will be a bit tricky in the smaller cogs. The 11-36t will be easier to set up and will shift well more consistently. If you're ok with the low gear and the top end of the 30t with 11-36t 9-speed, I'd say that's the cleanest way to go.