Hello everyone! Glad I found this reddit community. I have a 90s Panasonic Springbok DT currently with a 3×9 gravel set up. This set up was mainly influenced by friends who are all into classic bikes and their aesthetics.
However, I have not been so fond with riding it so I’ve now started making changes to it. I’ve recently replaced the handlebar with a bosco bar so I can be more upright and hence more comfortable. Now I want to change the drivetrain into a 1x set up. Thinking shimano cues 33t x 11-48t with a friction shifter. I live in a hilly area and I want to have more gears for climbing than gears for speed. There are of course other options for a polished chainring which I think is prettier but it’s a headache finding the right crank arm in my area.
To be honest, I’m doubting myself with my planned set up as everybody’s telling me that it’s going to look hideous on my bike but I kinda want my bike to be ratty and utilitarian. I realized that I don’t really go on gravel rides that much and my use case is mostly for errands, market/grocery runs, commuting, and occassional light touring.
What do you guys think or suggest?
by Weird-Inspector-6747
5 Comments
I think you could get away with putting a narrow-wide chainring on your current cranks and a suitable cassette in the back if you want to change the number of gears, the shifter and derailleur (whatch out for capacity) you have should be able to handle it. Depends on what you want to spend on it. I’m thinking about converting my old Schwinn MTB to 1×9 for commuting with cues too btw, but my crankset is riveted and I have an 8 speed cassette.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with making your bike *yours* by customizing it to fit your needs.
If you have a friction shifter you can just get narrow wide chainring and change the cassette to 10/11 speed
For a street bike meh I dunno. I don’t use the big chainring often but it is kinda nice having it there. As is you have a really nice range. Super nice actually.
I’d be thinking about moving the shifters up to the handlebars tho. Get some Paul Thumbies or something. Or maybe some ENE shifters, those seem really nice. Vintage Suntour power ratchet. Something like that
You know how in American movies, they represent ugly women by taking a gorgeous woman and putting glasses on her, and then we are all supposed to be surprised when she takes her glasses off and is suddenly beautiful? That’s kind of how that bike is, you can put an ugly old Advent drive train on there but it’s still going to be pretty. Might as well get some leather grips to match the saddle; buy a tweed riding jacket. Go all in.
Just try bar end shifters first, east to set up and sleek, the Rivendell Silver are good. Moving the shifting to the bar is a huge, huge win.
Right now you have the worst. High bars and down tube makes for a long and awkward reach.
If you’re sure you want 1x I’ve had great luck with used XT 11 speed.
It’s already perfect for hilly areas. Tf are you talking about. That’s what the granny gear is for..