How I upgraded my tt Carbon Limited to 1X

After seeing Tadej Pogacar's time trial bike set up with a 1X drive train, I decided to do the same with my tt Carbon Limited. I am no Tadej Pogacar, but I saw that if the pros run a single 58 or 60 tooth chain ring up front, they run an 11-28 or 11-25 in the back. "There will be gears somewhere in there that I can push," I thought. I was right.
Once I get my momentum up, I am able to ride my usual routes comfortably in the seventeen through the twelve. I dip into the eleven on downhills and sometimes I can maintain it on a flat. For some of the longer hills I might retreat into a nineteen or twenty-one.
If I have to quantify the difference between a 58x11-25 and a 55/42x11-23, I would say that with a fifty-eight one-by, every gear is 5 percent harder to push. I am quite sure that once you can get on top of a given gear, that extra five percent results in some material gains in speed. I went with the aluminum Stone Bike 58 tooth chainring. It mounted right onto my Shimano 9000 crank arms with out any kind of fix.
The one by set up is compelling because you can get rid of the front derailleur, front derailleur hanger and the left shifter and you can take off the inner ring, which is almost never used in time trial competition. These modifications results in some aero gains and reduces the weight of the bike, not to mention adding that one by cool.
The great thing about the tt Carbon Limited is that you can make all these modifications yourself (or with the help of a skilled mechanic. (Marc Drabik at BNS Bike Service did the hard work for me). You are not facing the manufacturer's proprietary technology or fully integrated designs that are so common now with time trial bikes. The frame can accommodate a 58 tooth chain ring and you can upgrade the brakes to caliper from cantilever as well.
Also, rim brake disc rear and deep dish front wheels are more widely available in the secondary market now because so many people are switching to disc brakes or retiring from the time trial discipline altogether. Now is a golden opportunity to set up a time trial bike.
Having a time trial bike around allows me to be competitive in stage races that have a time trial; it broadens the number of events I can attend each year and it adds variety to my weekly training: a maximum effort for one hour on a time trial bike is a good use of my time, quite fun and it gives me the confidence to attack the group at the races or bridge up to the break.
If you are interested in getting a tt Carbon Limited built up, please let me know. I will be very pleased to help you source the parts and the fitting services necessary to get you set up on a very fast, affordable and practical time trial bike. Become Bike. Become A-D Bike.