Single ring setup (9 speed) // Thoughts after 6 months

I've been running a single ring setup (9 speed) for the last 6 months. Tested it out on lots of different trails & terrain, in every possible conditions. So I think it's about time to post some thoughts about it.

But where to start? I could start with the reason why I decided to give this setup a go. Or the way it has been converted. That's not important I guess, so here are the facts!

• The idea of having a single chain ring on the front is brilliant, well at least it is for me. It's very simple, less things to worry about, less maintenance and not to mention it's lighter. This is the bottom line. It's a great riding experience, I surely like it! But...and here is the "but part"... 

• The first and most important thing that I needed to realize is the fact this is just a DIY tuning thing I got going on here. Got the system right as much as it possibly can be but...it hasn't been designed to work this way, so there are some minor faults. Little mechanical issues also, but mainly in functionality point of view. 
• The particular issue that I have with this setup: it's only 9 speed. I've been using 11-34T casette with the original 32T Shimano SLX ring on the front. It covers most of my needs but I run out of gears quiet easly because the gear ratio isn't enough. I prefer to ride out to the mountains when I go for a spin, so on roads / fire roads the hardest gear isn't fast enough. Spins out way too soon... On the other hand the easiest gear (32-34) is working ok, but only on shortish XC spins. Don't find it very good on spins that lasts more than 3 hours simply because it gets very uncomfortable (getting tyred, less power, cadence drops). The biggest slap in the face was this year's Da Cooley Thriller XC Marathon race where I struggled a lot with the single ring setup...it just simply wasn't enough for those big climbs! 
• The best way to sum things up is this: it works, it does the job bit it's far from being perfect. It's not 100% reliable and feels a bit limited from time to time.

   

When I converted my XC bike this way I knew that it wasn't gonna be perfect. But I tried it anyway and I got a taste what it's like to ride a bike with only one ring o the front. And I can only imagine how great would be having something like the Sram XX1 on the bike with the massive ratio! Amazing! 

So, at this point I'm still saying that I going to keep the bike built the way it is and keep running only 1 chainring for a while. But in the future I will be using the trusted double ring setup for marathon and endurance races! Oh, and also waiting for more affordable Sram groupset to drop! ;)