I ditched the gears, flipped the bars, and got this.

I once built this Cannondale Synapse as a 1×12 GX but got tired of it since the gearing was too similar to my road bike (also on a Synapse) and barely rode it. So I flipped the bar, ditched the drivetrain, got a longer stem to compensate for lack of drops, and now I'm 200 miles in as my daily commuter. This will eventually become a "weight weenie" build over time.

I still need to cut the stem but thankfully the compression plug sits low enough to safely clamp.