Upgrading the Soma Saga: Planning

 With the downfall of the Cutsmoke, the nice drop bar gravel kit on that bike is going to become available for scavenging. I probably won't build out a mechanical brake gravel or road bike - I'd rather get a nice complete build that has everything fitted out.

So, what can I bring over?

  • Brifters - Ultegra R8000 11 speed
    • Hell yeah - the bar end shifters are fine, but the brifters are so much nicer for a road/gravel build. And I don't think it's going to matter much for a road touring bike. I've never had an issue with my brifters, and my bar ends (while reliable) are more annoying and finicky.
  • Brakes - Spyre SLC
    • Hell yeah - the Hayes CX brakes on there currently aren't great. This will drop weight and improve performance.
  • Rear Derailleur ? GRX 812
    • This is a possibility - I need a rear derailleur to match the Ultegra brifters. The GRX 812 has been fantastic with the 10-42 cassette I've been running. It's a 1x specific derailleur, so I would need for this to be a 1x build. Reportedly, they work with 11-46 cassettes, which would be nice.
  • 46cm Whisky Carbon bars
    • Probably not, honestly - I think I'll be switching over to a 42cm since it's a road/touring/commuter
How much change do I want, though?

new crankgset

Right now, I've got the triple touring crank. I could just get an 11 speed cassette. and run 3x11. I can't imagine the GRX 812 not working with a triple crank and an 11-34 11 speed cassette. That's the least amount of work.

The main thing I don't like about my cranks is that they're 175mm, and I love the 165mm feel I have on the Cutsmoke. So upgrading cranks allows me to also fix this fit thing.

I'm pretty sure my rings are 46/36/24 right now, which is great. So moving to a 2x or 1x would necessary restrict range. I use the easiest gear on the bike occasionally, and since I'm intending it to be useful for loaded touring, I don't want to compromise that too much. My current easiest gear has a gear ratio of 0.71 (24t ring + 34t cog).

If I get a new crankset, I've got a few choice points: do I go 1x? or do I go 2x? 

single ring babyyy

If I go 1x, then my current rear derailleur works, and I can just run the 11-46 cassette and be happy. I'd probably want a 36t oval ring, and I already have that with my Cutsmoke, so that should be fine. Especially if I can just get a 104 BCD crankset, though these appear to be somewhat rare, and I wouldn't compromise on cranks so I could use a ring lol.

There are a ton of options in this space, and it would be the easiest and cheapest way to go. So seems like almost certainly the right answer.

The gearing is the big problem here. To retain my low-end gearing and a 46t cog, I'd need to be on a 32t ring. And I know for a fact that that's too small for fun road riding unloaded. A 36t ring is more like it, which works out to basically my second easiest cog right now. Which is... fine? I imagine I'll be saving enough weight and annoyance that it may pay for itself.

With a Tanpan, I can run a 50t cassette. 36x50 is 0.72 gear ratio, which is a tiny bit worse than my current setup. I'd need an SLX derailleur. Still, this may be preferable? Maybe as a next step, if I'm feeling like the setup isn't adequate.

double double

A 2x crankset opens up a lot of complexity, actually.

I'd need to have a new front derailleur, as my current one is a 105 road triple. Which FD I get would depend on which crankset I get.

Road Doubles

So a road double would let me run something like 50-34 or 46-30 cranks. Pretty nice. I know that 46-30 and 11-40 cassettes work great with Shimano stuff from my experience with the Fuji Jari. It would be relatively easy to find a 2x FD. I may want a different RD, though.

I think the main advantage here is that i'd be running a much faster build. This is basically the big ring + a slightly easier middle ring on my current setup. I use the small ring enough that I'd want to have a beefier cassette. A 30t ring 42t cog works here, but it's a bit harder.

Mountain Doubles

Mountain doubles are interesting. I'd probably try and get an XT 8000 36/26. This would give me a comparably easy gear with a 36t cog in the rear - that's pretty big weight savings. And the 36x11 is as fast as the single ring i'd have up front.

The main difficulty here is that a mountain FD is going to be more annoying to make work with the road shfiter. This is what I ran on the Mukluk and the shifting was never great.

Weight For Me

Based on my calculations, we've got the following weight figures:

  • Current 3x cranks, shifter, FD, but with the GRX RD and 11-34 cassete:
    • 1847g
  • GRX 2x cranks, Ultegra shifter, new RD, GRX RD, 11-34 cassette:
    • 1614g
  • XT 2x cranks
    • 1535g
  • 1x, XT 34t, 11-46 Sunrace
    • 1448g
So, that's 400g less on the 1x, nearly a pound. And less fucking about. And I could keep using the brake-only lever on the front, which would also probably save a bit of weight. OK, yeah, I'm sold, let's do that!

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