Shimano declares “There is no single truth,” launches Drivetrain Advisor to help find yours

Um ya…..if you have 26in wheels you haven’t bought a new bike in a LONG time. Sorry that companies target people who buy new products.

It’s all about marketing. 29ers exist since 80’s, all those years the industry was blind?. What about geometry, weight. In the past years industry told us many things for those. And what about if in some years, with a magical way, 26ers come back…never say never. Because companies targeting in peoples…who buy new products.

“Or you can get 500% with Eagle and lose a chainring/shifter/derailleur/cable/housing.”
yes, you can lose all those things, plus about $1000.

It’s kind of weird how, when talking about Eagle, no one ever seems to mention that an XO1 eagle cassette costs more than an entire XT drivetrain. And it’s a wear item that usually doesn’t last a year.

I built an entire NICE gravel bike (lots of little bling touches too) with SLX (triple which isn’t available with SRAM) drive train, and brakes for what that Eagle costs. Plus I like the gearing ALLOT better. Has much smaller gaps, and wider range. Lastly, I don’t like the way SRAM shifting works. I have 4 bikes, three already had Shimano, so I wasn’t about the build ONE SRAM bike, and have to try to rewire mental to switching back and forth for shifting action. Lastly, the Shimano was significantly less expensive for equivalent components.

Spend big on the “Eagle” stuff if you like, doesn’t matter to me. I’ll stay with Shimano.

Try it. The jump from a 36 to 40 tooth cog is small than the jump from 17 to 19 tooth cog.
The 11-46 XT cassette has basically the same gear spacing as the 10 spd with a slightly larger jump from the 37t to 46t cog.

People always comment about big jumps but in reality the math doesn’t really pan out. IMO, the only real downside to 1x is absolute range, not gear steps. One has to choose either top end or low end. Most rec riders are wise to choose the cassette and chainring based on their lowest utilized 2x gear. Top end loss is typically only felt on road section between trails if that an issue, although in flatter areas of the country I can see where this is more a concern.

Again, try it, but don’t be ashamed of 2x if you like it.

While I can’t speak to the specific numbers, you make some good points. That said, high volume/low price parts may account for a large percentage of unit sales- but profits are another thing and the mid-to-high end and aftermarket sales are where most companies make the bulk of their profits. Given that the context of the promotion is enthusiast mountain biking I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to limit our focus to that market.

What I have seen is that 1x systems are fantastic for new riders – both on road and off. They’re less concerned about some mythological biologically perfect cadence than about simplicity and ease of maintenance, both of which singles deliver in mountain, road, and commuter settings.

Further, singles offer product managers great value- someone above asserted the 1x drive trains are more expensive than doubles, which is demonstrably untrue at a given level from both a BOM and assembly time perspective. Coming back to the enthusiast mountain market, I suspect that most riders would understandably be willing to accept a small range reduction for less weight, lower prices, or spec upgrades like dropper posts or (hey Germany! ) suspension lockouts.

There are lots of opinions, but a lot of 1x resistance seems to come from those who haven’t tried it. There are a few who go the other direction, but that simply isn’t where the bulk of the enthusiast mountain market is headed- and it’s my opinion that insisting otherwise doesn’t help Shimano in terms of either sales or credibility.