Pinkbike Awards: Best Value Product
Mountain bike technology has improved drastically over the last few years, but prices for the highest end items have risen as well. We're living in a time of $3,000 wheelsets and $10,000 bikes, prices that are out of reach for many riders. Luckily, there are still good values to be had, and the bikes that are situated in the middle tier of a company's lineup now rival what was at the very top end only a few years ago. The same goes for components, and many of today's mid-range products are capable of outperforming what would once have been the best of the best. The nominees for this year's Best Value Product award ran the gamut from brakes to helmets, but all of the choices were worthy contenders for the title, items that offer a high level of performance without breaking the bank. Of course, there can only be one winner – read on to find out who will be taking home this year's title.
![Pinkbike MTB Awards]()
Best Value Product
OneUp Components Wide Range Drivetrain
The last few seasons have seen single front chainring setups rapidly gain popularity, spurred on by SRAM's introduction of their 1x11 drivetrain. The addition of a 42 tooth cog to the rear cassette creates a wide enough range of gears that ditching the front derailleur altogether is a much more feasible proposition. In fact, a number of manufacturers have released bikes that aren't even compatible with a front derailleur, a sure sign that 1x drivetrains are here to stay. Currently, the biggest issue facing riders considering making the switch to a 1x11 setup is the cost. SRAM's base level gruppo (cassette, cranks, chain, and shifter) retails for $898, and as for Shimano, well, they're still playing catch up, and their 1x11 gruppo hasn't trickled down past the XTR level yet.
That's where OneUp Components comes in. They realized that it was possible to create a wide range drivetrain by removing the 15 and 17 tooth sprockets from a 10 speed cassette and replacing them with a 16 and a 42 tooth sprocket. The result is a cassette that has 90% of the gear range of a 1x11 setup at a fraction of the cost. OneUp wasn't the first company to venture down this path, but the price ($90 for the two sprockets) and availability moved their product to the front of the pack. The company hasn't rested on their laurels either, and the addition of the RAD cage, which improves the shifting performance of a Shimano derailleur when using a converted cassette, along with their own line of narrow-wide chainrings, means that everything you need to get rid of the front derailleur for good can be purchased from one company, all for less than $200. For offering a simple way to reap the benefits of a 1x drivetrain at a fraction of the cost, OneUp Components earns the Pinkbike Award for Best Value Product.
www.oneupcomponents.com
OneUp Components Wide Range Drivetrain
 |
The last few seasons have seen single front chainring setups rapidly gain popularity, spurred on by SRAM's introduction of their 1x11 drivetrain. The addition of a 42 tooth cog to the rear cassette creates a wide enough range of gears that ditching the front derailleur altogether is a much more feasible proposition. In fact, a number of manufacturers have released bikes that aren't even compatible with a front derailleur, a sure sign that 1x drivetrains are here to stay. Currently, the biggest issue facing riders considering making the switch to a 1x11 setup is the cost. SRAM's base level gruppo (cassette, cranks, chain, and shifter) retails for $898, and as for Shimano, well, they're still playing catch up, and their 1x11 gruppo hasn't trickled down past the XTR level yet.
That's where OneUp Components comes in. They realized that it was possible to create a wide range drivetrain by removing the 15 and 17 tooth sprockets from a 10 speed cassette and replacing them with a 16 and a 42 tooth sprocket. The result is a cassette that has 90% of the gear range of a 1x11 setup at a fraction of the cost. OneUp wasn't the first company to venture down this path, but the price ($90 for the two sprockets) and availability moved their product to the front of the pack. The company hasn't rested on their laurels either, and the addition of the RAD cage, which improves the shifting performance of a Shimano derailleur when using a converted cassette, along with their own line of narrow-wide chainrings, means that everything you need to get rid of the front derailleur for good can be purchased from one company, all for less than $200. For offering a simple way to reap the benefits of a 1x drivetrain at a fraction of the cost, OneUp Components earns the Pinkbike Award for Best Value Product.
www.oneupcomponents.com
Author Info:
Member since Feb 1, 2009
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
I have ridden SRAM 1x11, and I have to tell you, it's not much of a difference. Sure the SRAM drivetrain shifts smoother and easier. But is it really worth that much more? Not really. 1x10 is the hands down best deal in drivetrains. Thanks for creating this category @pinkbike. Can we expand it to have categories? I nominate Shimano SLX ice tech brakes, Hope hubs / wheels... I could go on an on.
Absolute black makes narrow-wides for 64 BCD, but if all you're doing on this ring is climbing, you really don't even need that.
This also opens up the opportunity, depending on your terrain, of running a bigger ring for your main ring, though you don't want to get to crazy: after all, you only want to have to switch to the granny for stuff like long road climbs. If you make your main big enough that you need the granny often, you might as well run a FD.
I'm riding a 32t on a 26", so I'm actually right in the gear-inch range for a 28t on a 29er myself.
Kaboom!
Look how many bikes come equipped with one of their 11 speed groups now. I don't think they're losing any sleep over this
Next up - someone will hopefully make a nice 10 gear cassette ranging from 40 or 42 down to 11 or 12. I wonder if people are holding off on that because once it's out, SRAM would likely come out with a cheaper version of their 1x11 drivetrain (X1 is going that route, but there's still a pretty big premium).
I have no experience with One Up, but I guess it's a fair award
Does it only work with Shimano rear mech?
The RAD and RAD'r cage are only for Shimano rear derailleurs. Though not necessary, use of a RAD or RAD'r cage improves the shift quality and reduces the amount of B-srew tension required (compared to a stock Shimano derailleur).
You can use a stock SRAM rear derailleur with the above cassette options. The RAD cages were developed as Shimano rear derailleurs do not use an offset upper pulley. SRAM derailleurs already have an offset upper pulley. (Offset relative to the cage's rotation axis).
Check out the OneUp webpage, compatibility section.
www.oneupcomponents.com/pages/compatibility
www.pinkbike.com/news/ace-hayden-is-the-animal-video-2015.html
s
www.superstarcomponents.com/en/xpr-expander-ring.htm
The trick here is that because you already have some of the parts ( cassette, rear changer ecc... ) you don't realize how much you already spent lol
My point here is that if you are going to buy the hole think from scratch then it's not worth it, for a bit more you get the 11 speed, this is only worth it if you have already the components on your bike, how troll is that ?
These day's one cant even express his opinion WTF man !
you can easily put together a drivetrain with a 42t range expander, RAD cage, & narrow wide of you choice for less than half of the cost of XX1(& let's not even get into the Shimano option.)
It's gonna be a dope hardtail when I finish it in a year.