3x to 1x Drivetrain Conversion Part 1- Budget Mountain bike 

Thanks for the compliment. I'm still very happy with the results and the drivetrain meets my needs every time I ride.

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you found value in it! I am planning some upcoming videos to watch for: part 3 of this conversion where I switch to a 30 tooth front chainring and I go back and properly torque all fasteners, tubeless tire conversion (on rims that are NOT tubeless compatible, installing a SRAM Code front brake system on my Kona Big Honzo trail bike, and a review of my Aeroe handlebar harness for bikepacking. I'm sure more ideas will pop up as I go. :)

Thanks 👍

I think you'll have to replace the rear wheel. 8-11 speed cassette needs, at least, HG freehub

Thanks Wayne! Everything beyond taking off the rear wheel was new territory for me so there was lots of research involved. I feel much more empowered about working on my bike now. :)

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 well done, there's so much information out there, it's very easy to get lost, I think most of us learn by actually getting it wrong, then working out how to get it right, then never getting it wrong again!

@@wayneclement7201 So true Wayne. It seems if there's anything we must learn in this life it's that making mistakes are not failures, they are opportunities to learn and improve.

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 exactly that, getting it right first time doesn't necessarily know anyone knows what they are doing, but getting it wrong, and learning to correct it, gives you errors to look for in future, true learning

This is good to know. I did look at the AdventX 1x10 system for this conversion however I already had the SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed cassette to work with. Also, I bought all my components from a local bike shop that had deep discounts on their Black Friday sale that made it a very cheap upgrade for me. I could not find the Advent products so deeply discounted anywhere on the interwebs at the time.

Couldn’t fit 1x12 or didn’t try? I’m worried about spacing on my 99 Moots YBB.

I'm glad it was helpful and hope it inspires you to make your conversion work. Good eye spotting the Shoei helmet - I'm pretty in love with anything that has two wheels. :)

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 Thank you sir and guess what, it DID work! I got an 11sp 51-11 cassette, fit right on, I just had to add an extra washer between the freehub nut and frame for chain clearance. Got a nice deore xt derailer and shifter which adjusted up nicely. I wanted to try it right away with my old front mech but the center sprocket was too worn for the chain to run smoothly. Luckily I'd already ordered the new crankset stuff so I dove into that with a bit of apprehension. But once I got that first crank arm pulled with a little help from WD 40, it went surprisingly smoothly. The bottom bracket threads were easy to break free once I got the grit out of the tool slots despite some twenty years of use. My crank bearings were still tight, smooth, and low friction; felt like a waste but that's how it goes. I wasn't easily getting any five hole chain rings to match. I played around with that calculator you showed and ultimately picked a 34 T. Turns out a bit too low for my riding. I find myself using the fifth sprocket up from the 11T for my woods trail. I doubt I can use the 51T for anything, it's so slow. So I ordered a 36 and a 38T which arrived yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing how those go. There might be a clearance issue with the swingarm. Also, I went with "oval" chain rings. That seemed interesting and so far the bike pedals great, I can get power to the wheel with a good feel, it feels easier and faster to climb (I'm willing to accept that there's a psychological ingredient to that). Switching gears (chuckle) to motorbikes, I recently test rode Honda's new Transalp. I'm favorably impressed! I'm pretty sure I'll be getting it. I'd been holding out to check out a Tenere 700 since its introduction but supply has been so weak that I still haven't seen one in person. And based on my age plus wanting to go places with my wife on back, this seems the more suitable candidate. I have my 300xcw for solo trail riding. Anyway, we'll see, it's holiday season and we're busy with family, so after the new year we'll revisit this. Cheers!

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 Update: today I tried the 38T. Wasn't sure I could tell the difference but I got my daily exercise ride in using the same rear gears as before with the 34. I haven't gone out to the road to try fast yet, nor climb the steep gravel hill since converting as the weather just hasn't been inviting. But then I'll know about the two extremes. Cheers!

Thanks for this information, the IXF crank did not come with any instructions on how to install it. I would like to be more careful about using proper torque settings going forward. Do you have a link you can share as an example of the reasonable bike torque wrench you mention for around $10? I'd love to pick one up.

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 Follow the instructions for a Shimano Hollowtech II. IXF is basically a clone.

I've never gotten along with any bike with a front derailleur. Getting rid of it was the thing that allowed me to fully fall in love with biking again.

Por que entiendes y observas

Good tip. I'll keep that in mind for the next conversion I do (if I do more...)

No doubt about it

Well maybe 2x.... With 3x you have multiple of 3x repeated ratios....

@@SolarizeYourLife true

😂 stay true king

That would depend on your WHEEL SIZE. I have the greatest folding bike ever made. The Tern Verge X11. A masterpiece of design. 22 inch wheels. It runs with a 1X11 sram (52---10--42) drive train. Is capable of breaking 30mph on the flat. And it climbs hills like a BOSS. The sexiest looking bike ever. Even granny Smith could climb a steep hill on this baby. It's buttery smooth. No burn in your quads and panting. If you have some big ugly cumbersome bike on the other hand. Then yes you need a ridiculous amount of gears to get it up even a 12% grade. So it's all about the overall gear ratios. I've floated up hills on my X11 that I've seen other riders have to walk their big ugly bikes up.

My Giant has 135mm rear hub/frame spacing. I think it is impossible to install a boost hub (148mm wide) on such a frame - the hub is just simply too wide to fit in the frame. As in the video I did not have any chainline issues for my installation. As long as the front sprocket aligns close to the center of the cassette gears, I would expect you'll be in good shape. If it doesn't, getting creative with spacers (either on the crank or the sprocket mounts) would be required.

The wheel I got was built by a local bike builder. He just had it laying around so I got it cheap. If your ATX model is like mine, you need a wheel that has a 135mm QR (quick release) hub, with a freehub type that matches your cassette type (HG, MS, or XD.) There are cheap-ish options on Aliexpress such as the ZTTO P3 wheelset but that's both front and rear. This is a good option if like me, you want wider rims for wider tires. The cheapest option would likely be a used rear wheel with appropriate hub that has a stock 19mm inner rim width. Hope that helps!

My atx also had a square-taper bottom bracket. I replaced the whole thing with an iXF crank from amazon like this: tinyurl.com/mryt266y Still works great and has been very reliable on my bikepacking trips.

Thank you! You're correct in your assumption - I have some experience with tools from motorcycle maintenance and home renovations. All of this work was the first time for me on a bicycle - I always wanted to understand how to adjust shifting and the inner workings of the bottom bracket which before I felt was the scariest part of a bike . Lots of research and breaking it down into small, manageable parts made it possible for me.

That makes sense to me. My bottom bracket measures 73mm wide and I did install all three spacers assuming it was good to have at least one on each side to act as a washer and avoid direct frame to BB contact. I added the third spacer because it appeared to create an equal spacing between the chain stays and the crank arms when the crank rotates. The result did seem to make it so the left crank arm didn't overlap the crank spindle as much as I would like although it feels solid to ride. I think I may end up removing at least one spacer on the non-drive side to increase that overlap of the left crank arm. If I end up removing the spacer on the drive side I suppose that would change the chain line slightly and I may need to readjust my derailleur to shift properly. Thanks for your input. :)

Lots of bottom brackets are fitted without any washers. If it was me I would replace the chainring on the outside of the cranks and only add spacers to the non drive side if the crank bottoms out on the spline or your cranks hit the chainstays.

@@mikemelbrooks Thanks for this input. I may just revisit the crank spacers and reduce the number I have installed and then check the chainline situation and adjust as necessary. :)

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 You should only have one 2.5mm spacer on the drive side for a 73mm wide shell. A 68mm shell would have one more 2.5mm on each side to account for the missing 5mm. With the additional spacer on the NDS you run the risk of the crank arm fouling on the bottom bracket before the spline is correctly engaged and the bearings will not be correctly preloaded. That plastic "cover" that you installed is not a cover. It's a tool to pull the spindle into the NDS crank arm before tightening the two hex bolts and to preload the bearings properly. Without enough preload you will likely experience play in the bottom bracket, and possibly creaking noises. With too much you'll have too much friction and decreased bearing life.

@@genixia really helpful info! thanks!

You make a very good point. I decided to use the iXF crank as a cost-saving measure and there is some risk that comes with that. I felt there were enough other youtubers that had used and tested this crank that I felt pretty confident it is one the great values available for MTB upgrades and would help make it possible for me to make this change without it exceeding my budget. So far the crank has performed flawlessly and I will update if it ever lets me down. Interesting advice using candle wax on cables - will have to give that a try.

Thanks for the compliment - I really appreciate it! If you look at the video starting at about 10:41 you can see my front fender/mudguard install on the forks. I used a metal hose clamp on each side (with some old inner tube or electrical tape underneath to protect the fork finish) and connected the fender bracket to the hose clamp screw head. Has worked very well. For the rear non-drive side mount my frame has two threaded mounting points just above and behind the rear axle. I mount one side of my rear rack to one and the fender to the other. To overcome clearance past the rear brake caliper both the rack and fender came with aluminum tubes and long bolts to space the mounting point out about 1" (2.5cm) from the frame.

Giant sells fenders now.

Thanks for the compliment! It's rewarding to know the video helped you to feel this conversion is doable - I feel like as long as you have a bit of experience with tools and some available, a decent place to work, and some patience it's very doable. Give it a shot! When I started determining the parts I would need I realized the replacement rear wheel was the thing that would make or break the budget for the conversion seeing as I was fortunate enough to already have the SRAM cassette. Whole new wheels were fairly costly and I was not willing to take on lacing spokes from a new hub to my existing rim. I found the used wheel on my local craigslist from a small bike builder that runs his shop out of his garage. I paid $60 Canadian (about $45 US) which he had built from a used Shimano hub (with disc brake mount holes) and 19mm inner width rim (same as the stock Giant rim) and installed new spokes. This seemed like an excellent deal to me and once I had that wheel I proceeded to get all the other parts and tools and move forward.

Yes, 135 mm.

This Giant ATX uses skewers as well and it can likely still be modified on your bike. The first thing I'd do is measure the distance between your rear dropouts (effectively the rear wheel axle width). In my case it was 135mm which is quite standard - if yours matches that you'll have replacement wheel/hub options like I did. If it's narrower than that you'll have some research to do to see what is available that would fit your bike. The caveat to all of this: once you price out the parts you'll need you have to give good thought to whether it's worth putting that kind of money into a bike that is 30 years old. IMO it's probably not worth it unless it is perfect for you in every other way and this would make it your ideal bike beginning to end. If not, and it's just an upgrade, I'd seriously consider selling the bike and getting a newer ride that already has most of the things you want. Of course, that is if you can afford to do so. If not, you may want to start slowly gathering parts when you see deep sales. For me the Black Friday sales were the best I had seen all year so I pulled the trigger then. I started with the rear wheel/hub because that was the foundational piece that if I did not have it, I would not be able to fit any modern 12-speed (or at least 10-speed) cassette. Good luck!

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 Thank you for the well thought out reply and I agree with everything you’ve said. This particular frame uses no paint (Boralyn) and is a true “sleeper” perfect for bike touring. Hides every scratch and never needs cleaning- so I’m tempted to keep it relevant. Your video inspired me and follow-up given pause. Thanks again for your insight 👍🏽

Here is the follow up video with riding impressions: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pLK69TNeNs8.html I just finished a 4-day bikepacking trip: 230 km, 2000 m vertical (140 miles, 6,600 ft) with a 30-tooth front chain ring and I was super happy with it. Occasionally I could have used slightly higher gearing when peddling downhill but it wasn't really necessary. For the climbs I lived in the bottom three gears (or I was doing hike-a-bike). The shifting was super crisp and reliable, the gear steps felt equally spaced, and for me it has transformed the bike into something I love as opposed to battling it. On constantly changing offroad terrain I was super thankful to have 1x gearing that allowed me to concentrate on staying upright and burn less concentration on managing a pair of derailleurs. I'll have a video covering that bikepacking trip out soon. :)

Holding up great, no issues. I've noticed other youtubers using these cranks such as Seth from Berm Peak from his 'flip bike' series. These iXF cranksets seem solid and well built, light (compared to what it replaces on older/budget MTBs), quiet, smooth, and very reasonably priced. There are many different sellers of the iXF on amazon so shop around for the best deal. The only downside I've found is the machining on the silver chainring bolt holes is left very sharp. Just use a hand file to smooth those edges off and you should be good to go. Good luck!

If you want lower gearing this change would work great for you! It's one of the main reasons I made the change. Take a close look at the Gear Calculator Comparison section in the video starting at 1:04. The number displayed above each black triangle indicates the gear-inches of each gear. The lower the number, the lower the gearing. On my 3x drivetrain the lowest gear had a gear-inch value of 22.9, with a large gap up to the second lowest gear with a value of 31.0 gear-inches. With the 1x drivetrain the lowest gear is 17.8 gear-inches (much lower!) and the lowest four gears are lower than the second lowest gear on the 3x drivetrain, so it gives me lots of good gears to choose when climbing hills. Note that the graphics in the video are for a 32-tooth front sprocket. I have since changed to a 30-tooth front sprocket and the gearing is even lower, and perfect for me. If the gearing were any lower, I would not be able to maintain enough speed to stay upright and would have to get off and push anyway. You can enter information into this calculator (www.gear-calculator.com/) yourself for your existing bike and play with what the gearing would look like if you changed it. Very valuable resource. Good luck!

@@chasingmyfreedom3642 Thanks for the info takes i bit of learning i found out so far on a 3x8 changing the cassette to a 11-42T would give me lower gears vs the 11-32T i have. But i will read up on your info and go 1x ... alot less shifting and one less cable to maintain 👍

@@theprogrammerrolandmc3039 If you decide to only change your rear cassette to larger cogs, it's possible your derailleur arm will not be long enough to accommodate the larger gears. Wolftooth makes an adapter for an existing derailleur that will lengthen it but I have no experience with this (www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink). I would probably opt to get a derailleur with a clutch such as the Shimano Deore one I used. You'd probably also need a longer chain. If you wanted I believe you could keep the 3x setup at the crank and just upgrade the rear. I did the front as well because I also wanted to reduce complexity and weight and going to 1x achieved that goal.

Here is the follow up video with riding impressions: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pLK69TNeNs8.html

I stayed at the same 170mm crank arm length as stock. I'm 6'1" (185cm) tall with a 34" (86cm) inseam and I find this crank arm length works fine for me. A quick search on amazon seems to indicate the iXF crank I used is only available with 170mm cranks although maybe different lengths of this crank are out there somewhere else. There are certainly different brands to be had in different lengths.

Hi, I don't know the answer to that. This link seems to be a good reference on this: discerningcyclist.com/bicycle-weight-limits-best-bikes-heavy-riders/ and it seems most standard bikes have a limit in the 300-350 lb range. Bikes with fat tires may go up to 400 lbs. It looks like Zize bikes may offer models specifically for heavier riders although they are quite pricey. Check them out here: zizebikes.com/. Good luck!

You make a good point. I didn't torque it even though I have a large torque wrench from working on a motorcycle. I think I have a decent feel of about what 40Nm is and I think I have it in that ballpark. IMO the Giant ATX is a great workhorse bike for commuting, bikepacking, and gravel/cross country riding. With it's steep-ish head tube angle (70.5 deg) and high standover height of my XL model (nearly 32") I would not take it on steep trails my Kona Big Honzo goes when I'm letting gravity do the work. :)

Thanks for the comment - lots of discussion points here! Firstly, it's great how diverse people's opinions are on what works best for them. We all end up with unique, interesting machines that fit us like a glove and feel foreign to others. It's the spice of life. For the comment about how I find 3x drivetrains complicated to use, Dale Stone said it best here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vYLzwzwWhSo.html "the best components are the ones you never have to think about, and allow you to fully concentrate on the ride itself." In my case, I have to think a fair amount about how to find the right gear on 3x, whereas I intuitively always find the right gear on a 1x. It's bliss for me, and I'm glad you found something different that works equally well for you. :) I agree the original rear wheel was garbage in the sense it severely limited upgrade options due that the old hub design. Were you asking about the original crankset or the new one I installed? The original one was a square-taper design of unknown brand whereas the new one is an iXF crank from amazon which has so far been an excellent value for dollar and very reliable. I'm curious which aspect of the chain installation you complimented me on (thanks!) Was it the chainline or the length measurement or all of it? It's the first time I've installed a chain based on the excellent tutorials other youtubers have made.

@chasingmyfreedom3642 length of chain. I often see OEM bikes come with destructively long chains. I don't know how one needs to think about operating a triple. It's been 35 years of it for me and a bad and expensive 1x 12 proved to me they are junk. I was asking about the original crankset. It appeared to be a 28,38,48 which was the real reason for your lack of low gears. I see this daily and it just blows my mind. Want lower gearing.. change the cranks group. I did exactly that on a 29er modded hybrid. Now the 34t is more than low enough with a 22 pulling it. You'd have to ride one of my bikes to get it I suppose because as I've been seeing.. nobody else gets it except really old cyclists and commuters. The market it driven by foolish children buying up stuff to post on social media

I'm no expert on the various hub types however here's a video where Seth discovered it was a freewheel when he tried to update the drivetrain on this same Giant ATX model: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SuHriPlFVy4.htmlsi=GGVFC1IrioqiXEJj

I agree it would be better if I were buying a bike to have chosen one that was easier to upgrade. In my particular case I bought the bike a couple of years earlier with an intention of only using it for family rides mostly on flat ground, before I had any desire to bikepack and before I knew anything about bike gearing. I didn't know 1x drivetrains even existed when I bought it. Later with added experience and perspective, I knew better what I wanted and had to choose if I wanted to get a whole different bike vs. upgrading what I already had. I liked this bike in almost every way other than the gearing so that's the route I went. Also, I didn't just want to upgrade only to one ring up front, I wanted a larger cassette with at least a 50 tooth gear that generally cannot be found on an existing bike that has 2x or 3x on the crank. Glad you found something that worked for you for a good price and easy to upgrade. Happy riding!

If it works for your needs so it is good bike and that is important and you made afford to do this video to show everyone 👌👌👌