1 x 10 gears - rethought

The popular single-chainring concept can be achieved with a current 11-speed Sram or Shimano groupset, but this is expensive. If you want to operate your 10-speed drivetrain in single chainring mode, you can get help from the Black Forest - with a 41 t sprocket called a saw blade.

Gone are the days of 26-inch wheels, and triple chainring sets are also almost forgotten. However, the 27.5 and 29-inch wheels with lower acceleration and the 1x and 2x drivetrains with a narrower gear range call for new approaches. The solution, for example, is provided by cassettes with a wide gear range beyond 36 teeth, which are available from Sram and Shimano for 11-speed shifting systems.

The 41-tooth sprocket as a problem solver
What if you want to widen the existing 10-speed drivetrain, but only cassettes with a maximum of 36 teeth are available from the regular range? You can still use this 11-36 cassette and remedy the situation with the so-called saw blade from parts manufacturer Trickstuff.

The procedure: Remove the 17 mm sprocket and fit the 41 mm sprocket from the parts manufacturer from Merzhausen near Freiburg im Breisgau. This results in a large gear jump from 15 to 19. "You can do it, it shifts quite well, but it's not harmonious," says Trickstuff. As an alternative: remove the 15 and the 17 and replace them with the 16 and the large 41 supplied. The result is a more harmonious gear gradation than if only the 17 is replaced.

Which rear derailleurs are suitable for this?
A medium-length 10-speed rear derailleur with a 1 or 2 crankset can handle the 41 teeth of the oversize sprocket with acceptable shifting performance; for triple operation, a long rear derailleur must be fitted to the dropout.

The perfectionist complete solution
If you don't feel like tinkering with the 10-speed cassette yourself, Trickstuff has another solution: the "4111" cassette. With the sprockets 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 41, gear steps of between 13.9 and 20 percent are achieved, with a weight of 259 grams on the scales. The specifications include low wear: sprockets 1 to 7 are made of hardened steel and mounted on a carbon carrier, while sprockets 8 to 10 are made of electroless nickel-coated 7075 aluminum.

Although converting the 10-speed drivetrain is cheaper than a completely new shifting system, the Tricktstuff parts do cost something: the saw blade costs CHF 99.90, the "4111" cassette even CHF 359.90.

www.trickstuff.de