http://www.oneupcomponents.com/http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/artic ... ook-39168/http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Oneup-Comp ... -2014.htmlhttp://www.pinkbike.com/news/Hope-New-R ... -2014.htmlI thought I would do a quick review as a few people were interested to see how I got on. I'm running 1x10 on a 29er, 32T front ring and 11-36 sram X7 cassette. Since installing I have ridden Epping, Bredgbury, Tunnel Hill, Thorndon urban route and Danbury urban route with Matt HVAC who has a simular 29er set up with 1x10 non 42T for conmarrison.
Main reason for me buying it was because I felt with old set up I would struggled on the long steep mud climbs to keep momentum going, in these sort of situations I would of dropped the to the granny ring on a 2X10 set up to keep riding rather than walk up. Anyone that has ridden with me before will know I've got a fair amount of fitness and normal attack the hills rather than just try to get up them (hell I rode up Snowdonia before
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First impressions when it turned up were good, you can easily see why it costs what it cost with a lot of machining done to keep the weight down but strength up. Installation was a piece of cake, I had left enough links in my chain for the new ring when I had converted the bike to 1x10 so no need to plan around there. Quick play be the b tension screw and it was running smooth straight away.
The two aspects of the conversions that worth talking about is how the 42T ring and the 17T missing ring affects riding. Yes the bigger ring is less smooth in the changing gear (both selecting and disengaging) compared to the rest of the cassette but one you plan the gear changing a little it before you need to its fine (think off it the same way you select the right height on a dropper post before the obstacle). I only tended to use it as a bail out gear than as the main port of call on all climbs, it just allows you to keep renching the bike up the climb rather than get off and walk. Because it is not use all that often I can see myself transferring it over when the rest of the cassette has worn out so it should last for years.
The missing 17T ring is an interesting one, on a normal trail ride I found I never really got down as far as the 15T ring so was unaware of the gap in the cassette. On the urban rides, it was more noticeable as I would spin along on 19T and 15T on the flat (11T on anything with a slight gradient going downhill and eventually running out of gears). The gear changing between the 15T and 19T was still smooth other than the jump in the gears. I can't see why you would not be able to make your own custom cassette up to lessen the jump in gears (e.g. put a 16T instead of 15T) or remove the 15T instead of 17T.
If I had the money would I go for a 1x11 set up? Yes, the 42T-10Twould works for most people's riding and be a better system that is smotherer and more professional but the cost is far too high at the moment for most riders budgets. Would I recommend one up 42T ring (or hope's new 42T ring), yes. It's cheaper by a long way, works just as well if you are willing to live with the lag in time for changing gears and the jump in teeth size. I will update if I have any problems or exseive wear.