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Getting a Wider-Range 1x11 on the Gravel Bike

I had a 2019 Salsa Cutthroat with a SRAM Force 1×11 setup that I wanted to get a bit lower gearing for steep hills around here. Not worried about increasing the top end. Didn’t want to replace the rear wheel which has the HG style freehub used for the last 20+ years on 8, 9, and 10 and some 11-speed setups.

So, what’s the big deal? Just put a big cassette on. They make plenty of them these days. Well… Kinda.

  • Cassette availability: SRAM’s HG-compatible cassettes stop at 42t. I have that and want at least 50T
  • Hubs: Most large cassettes require an XD driver on the freehub. Some hubs can be changed easily, some maybe, some not. Mine was in the ‘can’t find one’ category
  • Derailleur: The SRAM Force 1 (and most other road derailleurs) isn’t rated for cassette cogs that big. The longer cage varieties like this one can get to 42 but some only to the upper 30s. Also, the derailleur’s total tooth takeup (difference between largest and smallest) gets strained beyond ~37t. 50-11 = 39T to take up.
  • Shifter. This is a drop-bar gravel bike. It has road shifters. This means that its ‘actuation ratio’ (the amount of cable pulled per click) is set up for the indexing of a road 11 speed. This is not compatible with an 11s mountain rear derailleur which expects a mountain shifter. Ugh. Why?

Options and issues

The cassette has a few options

  • SRAM’s new Eagle series can be had up to 50t in an HG-compatible form. Unfortunately only in 12 speeds though. Well isn’t that a good thing? Upgrade to 12 speed. Well, according to SRAM, that requires replacing the whole group. AND moving to electronic shifting. (A good resource on compatibility)
  • Aftermarket cassette.
    • Lots of people point to the e*Thirteen gear. Nice stuff and they offer an 11-speed 9-42 (511%) cassette. But only in XD driver.
    • Garbaruk makes a beautiful 11-speed 11-50t, HG (also XD option) cassette. One piece of steel machined into the first 10 and an aluminum 50t for only 314g

What about that freehub?

  • Some wheel manufacturers offer easy replacements of an HG driver with an XD one. However, not this hub.
  • It’s worth noting that the XD freehub exists mainly to allow sub-11T sprockets. Wide range XD cassettes currently go to 10T usually with 9T possible. But I’m fine sticking with 11T

Derailleur and shifter

More range requires some sort of change since a) even the long cage installed only is rated to 42t and b) road derailleurs don’t clear really big cogs naturally.

  • Get a mountain derailleur. Do it the SRAM way: To solve the compatibility with the shifters, SRAM’s way is to go to electronic shifting. Tell the shifter it is shifting mountain and you’re good. I’m not yet ready to go there, particularly on a gravel bike. That’s expensive because it requires both a new derailleur and a new shifter (and probably new brakes). And I don’t want more batteries to charge.
  • Get a mountain derailleur but modify the system. There are a couple of approaches to adapting the actuation ratios from “Exact Actuation” (road shifters) to “X-Actuation” (mountain derailleurs). BTW, what were they thinking with that naming?
  • A company called Ratio Technology offers conversion kits to make an 11s road shifter into a 12s mountain shifter. It takes replacing the cam and ratchets in the shifter and a fin (cable cam) in the Eagle derailleur. So kit+new derailleur but no new shifters/brakes.
    • Note: The number of ‘speeds’ is controlled by the shifter NOT the derailleur. The indexing happens upfront. The derailleur is ‘analog’ and will do what it’s told.
    • They also offer a cable fin kit to just convert an Eagle (MTB) derailleur to accept inputs from a road shifter. This is part of the above kit but leaves you with an 11s setup. So new derailleur + adapter kit only but remain 11s
    • One is an inline ratio adapter device like the Wolf Tooth Tanpan that can be used to adapt road shifters to mountain derailleurs in the 10s or 11s ratios. The downside is that the adapter has to be found a home somewhere inline in the cable path. New derailleur + adapter, remain 11s
  • Modify the existing road derailleur.
    • Garbaruk (and I think others) offer extended cage replacements for standard SRAM road derailleurs. The cage is longer to absorb greater tooth difference as well as repositions the sprocket geometry to fit around the larger sprockets.
    • Another option is a Wolf Tooth Roadlink which repositions the rear derailleur to allow it to fit larger cogs. This does depend on the existing derailleur to be able to adapt to the range on the cassette. This can work for those not wanting to go all the way to an 11-50

Final solution

I finally decided to modify my Force 1 derailleur:




I liked the limited modifications necessary with this solution. Swapping a derailleur cage is simple nuts and bolts thing. All the parts from the same company who built them to work together (and several reviewers confirming the effectiveness). The only real downside in my mind was direct ordering all the way from Poland (with one potentially back-ordered part to boot). Where’s my instant gratification? But in my case, I was delighted with the experience. I ordered on a Thursday (‘free’ shipping option, no expedite), they shipped Friday and I had parts in hand, post-customs in California Monday night. Your mileage will almost certainly vary. I got very lucky. But it speaks to the general efficiency of the process.

Note: My runner-up was the Ratio fin kit. Based on the design and reviews from those who’ve installed it, the part just works. A bit more fiddly to install than a cage but still home mechanic work. Note that it requires an upper-tier SRAM derailleur (like the Force) to work because the fin is riveted on cheaper ones. I was tempted by the 12-speed conversion option too but didn’t want to be changing out parts that are very much part of how the shifters ‘feel’.

But does it work?

Yes, it does. The installation was straightforward with good instructional videos. The only tricky part is getting the derailleur tension retrimmed but that’s just me (I don’t know why I can’t master this). The 34-50 combo at 19.4 gear inches allows for near-tractor torque. For comparison, my old road triple (read below) had a granny gear of 32in, my also ancient Ventana trail bike triple granny beats it slightly at 18.1 but that was designed for climbing MOUNTAINS! Oh, and it looks great.

Before

  • 34t Chainring
  • 11-42t Cassette
  • SRAM Force 1 rear derailleur
  • Low gear: 23.1 in (4.5 mph @ 65 rpm)
  • High gear: 88.4 in (23.7 mph @ 90rpm)
  • Range: 382%


Before



After

  • 34t Chainring (still later, experimented with a 30 and settled on a 32)
  • Garbaruk 11-50t HD Cassette
  • Garbaruk Extended derailleur cage
  • Low gear: 19.4 in (3.8 mph @ 65 rpm
  • High gear: 88.4 in (23.7 mph @ 90 rpm)
  • Range: 456%




After





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