Back in 2018, I took the new 3T Strada for a month’s riding in Australia. It was fitted with SRAM’s Force 1 mechanical groupset and I thought the new-fangled 1x11 setup would be all I’d need for road riding.
I was wrong. The broad cassette and large single ring didn’t quite give me the best gearing for all my rides. On the rolling Queensland coastal roads, it was brilliant, but when I got to the much steeper ramps and climbs inland, I struggled with the 50x34 bottom gear.
What I did love, however, was the simplicity; getting shot of a front derailleur was a godsend. I didn’t have to worry about any adjustments when setting the bike up in Australia or that I’d drop the chain when I was out riding.
As good as front derailleurs have got since their inception in the early 1900s, they are still too fallible – whether they’re mechanical or electronic – rasping the chain and still needing fiddly adjustment.
The fundamental design, which shoves the chain sideways, is just – well – very last century.
Performative mechanics
There’s a type of performative home mechanic who will wax lyrical about roadside adjustments and fixes, or the joys of pre-tensioning, cable maintenance and pad toe-in.
I was like this, but I’m glad I’ve been able to leave such thinking behind. It's this attitude that has kept the front derailleur alive, even when mountain bikers were sensible enough to ditch the tech long ago.
Front derailleurs are ultimately the domain of bike tinkerers, who espouse the wonders of high-maintenance cup and cone bearings and Victorian rim brakes, rather than those who just want to ride.
I know people will disagree and that’s fine if your joy from cycling comes as much from tinkering in your workshop as riding. But I’d rather be out on my bike with no coffee-stop maintenance or oil under my fingernails.
This is the end
It has been seven years since my trip to Australia and, thankfully, I think we can now see the end of the road for the front derailleur.
Take my recent testing of the new Cannondale Synapse with 1x Red XPLR AXS and the Cervélo Áspero 5 with a combination of Red XPLR and Eagle X0. Both had all the range and smooth gear progression I needed for my road riding. Plus, the simple addition of a 13th cog allowed for closer gear progression.
Where the 3T Strada had ungainly jumps, the new 13-speed setup from SRAM has single-tooth jumps for its first six cogs, followed by two-tooth jumps for the next three. And when I need to use the biggest cogs on steep climbs, gear progression is the last thing on my mind.
The tech has finally made 1x drivetrains viable on road and gravel bikes.
Racing adaptations
I know that for racers 1x drivetrains might not suffice in all cases, but a change of either chainring or cassette to suit the terrain is always an option.
Even the pros are experimenting more and more with 1x in competition, and not only in time trials. We saw some of the top riders adopt 1x gearing for this year's Classics, and I’ll be intrigued to see if any use 1x for any other stages in this year's Tour de France.
Having a drivetrain that retains a chain better and doesn’t try to derail it by design, thanks to narrow-wide tooth profiles and clutch-equipped rear derailleurs, adds security.
Chain drops are now a rare thing, but catastrophic for your race prospects if they do happen. Surely any way to reduce the risk of a mechanical problem has to be worth it.
Hub gears
I’ve also had the pleasure of trying Classified’s two-speed wireless hub, both combined with a 1x GRX Di2 drivetrain and with TRP’s new drivetrain.
Replacing two chainrings and a derailleur at the front of your drivetrain with a smart hub at the rear makes sense to me. Fewer exposed parts mean longer service intervals and less maintenance generally.
Added to that, Shimano’s self-powered Q’Auto could be a glimpse of drivetrains to come. This auto-shifting system, based in the rear hub, responds to your riding with more than 6,500 pre-set algorithms and could make cycling much easier for lots of people. The tech is aimed at urban riding, but it could have other applications in the future.
The Classified and Q’Auto hub gears are in the earliest stages of their development, and I’m sure both will improve in terms of weight and performance. When that happens, we will have a complete replacement for the troublesome front derailleur.
In an age of electronic wireless shifting and power measurements on the fly, still relying on a piece of tech that was originally a stick with a cage on the end (look up Huret’s front derailleur from the 1940s) is just anachronistic.
I look forward to the day I can finally ditch the derailleur completely. My riding will be better for it.
