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Shimano GRX modification

Former Member
Not applicable

Heya,

I'm planning on buying a new bike. My intention is to go for a CX one-by. I'm also planning to use the bike as a roadbike in summer. Hence my qustion is:

Does anybody know or have experiences in changing the charinring? 40 or 46 teeth are maybe not sufficient to ride with lads on tarmac. I'm planning to switch the chainrings in summer and fall to convert from "crosser" to "roadbike" and vice versa. Is this technically possible?

Please don't try to warn me about different geometries. I've tried the different frames and in the end it's always the legs not the reach nor the stack which is your limiter. I'm not planning to compete in the Giro oder the Vuelta.

Thank you in advance. Keen on your input.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Jabroni2002
Mt. Kenya

Hello My Guy, I see you're trying to hang with the roadies... Interesting choice, but ok. Let's talk about soiling the sanctity of a gravel bike:

You can certainly do this, but you will need two chains as well, as the 40T Ring will be 6 links shorter than the chain for the 46T ring. You'll notice once you swap from 46T to 40T, that you'll have a lot of slack in the chain that can result in chain drops, skips, and overall general nonsense.

Another Idea, is to ensure you have a 10tooth top gear in the back and split the difference with a 44T Chainring.
44/10 = 4.4 Gear Ratio, 52 / 11 = 4.72. It should be close enough except on downhills. Or just get on top of those cadence drills.

- B

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

Jabroni2002
Mt. Kenya

Hello My Guy, I see you're trying to hang with the roadies... Interesting choice, but ok. Let's talk about soiling the sanctity of a gravel bike:

You can certainly do this, but you will need two chains as well, as the 40T Ring will be 6 links shorter than the chain for the 46T ring. You'll notice once you swap from 46T to 40T, that you'll have a lot of slack in the chain that can result in chain drops, skips, and overall general nonsense.

Another Idea, is to ensure you have a 10tooth top gear in the back and split the difference with a 44T Chainring.
44/10 = 4.4 Gear Ratio, 52 / 11 = 4.72. It should be close enough except on downhills. Or just get on top of those cadence drills.

- B

Former Member
Not applicable

Thank you for your input. This is a pretty interesting suggestion.

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