Would you go 1x?

im 1x9 on my gravel/cx and F/S bikes 32t oval and 12-36 cassette. However Im sure I would miss the extra range on my road bike so use 34/50 and 11-32. 

If I only had one bike, Id probably have a gravel/cx bike and use a 36t oval with 11-40 gearing.

Must admit, if I was building a TT bike from scratch for most of the roads we use up here a 1x setup would do the job, but not for the more sporting courses.  I can imagine plenty of guys who could do, say, the Gibbet on a single ring setup, but what are the benefits?

I don't ge the frantic urge to ditch the front mech - it adds a little more weight (less than a pie, and less than you thionk since the casssette with bigger rings for 1x weighs more) ) and a little more complexity (but I can't imagine how you break one) so besides fashion, and go faster stripe potential, why the big noise?

A cynic would say SRAM couldn't get their front shifting as slick as Shimano's, so they tried to sell the lack of a front derailleur as a feature. What's so bad about a front derailleur anyway ? Surely the answer is better front derailleurs, not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Front mechs are dead, they just don't know it yet.... At the moment though, for road, the perfect 1x setup doesnt exist and there are issues with extreme chainlines. Prob the closest ideal right now is the SRAM 11-36 wifli cassette, or even the 11-42, with maybe a 48t upfront, and just expect a bit of spinning out downhill. But your rear mech needs a longer cage.

For a crit race bike, absolutely. 48 or 50T chainset coupled with an 11-25 cassette for super close ratios. After all, you only ever use the big ring in a crit race!

For a CX race bike then again, 1x working off a 36 or 38TT chainset with a 12-42 cassette would be perfect. Less problem with big jumps in a CX race and much less to clog up and go wrong.

For a more all-round bike - gravel bike, road bike etc I still prefer 2x.

Nah mate - the big jumps in gearing really do my head in. I find it very uncomfortable not being able to find the "right" cadence. 

My road bike is 2X11, my CX is 2X10 and my mtb is unashamedly 3X10. 

Plus when I was out at the weekend in the nature, I saw a big bunch of XC guys with 1X12 setups and the tiny small chainring with the pie plate cassette just looks... well wrong in my opinion.

I used an old 10sp 11-34 mtb cassette (11-13-15-17 etc) with a compact chainset on my road bike for a while when i was recovering from an injury. The low gears were great and that side of things worked well, it got me thinking i could get away with a 1x setup.

But I also found that when cruising along on the flat the jump from a 13 tooth to an 11 tooth gear was often too much i.e needed an intermediate gear. Even the jump from 13 to 15 was inconvenient sometimes. 

For me, thats the limitation of a 1x setup for fast road use, you might get away with it if its just for pootling about, but not if you want the option to go as fast as you can.

Don't understand why you would do this for road. (MTB and cross yes, road no.) Gaps at the end of the cassette (or lack of small enough cog) will drive you mad. Front shifting on a road bike not all that hard, esp with etap. I think you can now programme Di2 so it runs through gears sequentially, so no need to change front shifter yourself at any point (certainly you can do this with DiXTR and DiXT).

Have used 1x11 on the mtb for a few years now

I would have it on the road bike but it would prob be 1x12 sram eagle (10-50t cassette)

Would love not to have trim the front mech (something i used to love about my old Di2 setups is that it trimmed for you)

Only problem is from an aesthetics point of view nothing looks as good as my current groupset (campag super record)

Now I run 3x9 gears so I have big range and I use them all in my daily commute. With a small chainring I guess I would be able to survive and just spin a little more when downhill. I really like the simplicity of 1x but they are still unjustifiably expensive and not very sure about how cross chaining will affect my wearable items and effort spent. So 1x stays as a fantasy, I don't have any actual reason to change my old trusty 3x9

I'm running a 1x10 5700 set up on my commuter bike, 42 12-28, and sometimes feel the need for the inner ring but manage to get up the hills, just. I did run with just a RH shifter but it didn't feel right, one hand full and the other comparitively empty when riding on the hoods so I now have 5700 shifters on both sides but have 'locked' the LH shifter with a 3" piece of gear cable.

Darren, have a look at a gear ratio calculator:

http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios

Example link above. If you know what you're happy with on your current set up you can look to match...

Get a 44-46T narrow wide chainring and try it. It's as simple as that. You don't need any dedicated groupset for that.

Personally, having run 44 and 46 rings with 11-25 to 11-32 10 sp cassettes for a few years on my commuter and Sun best, I can't see any reason to go back to a front mech.

It's all about the experience of simplicity.

I don't think it's viable if you do a lot of training with power without an electronically controlled turbo trainer. Having a comfortable cadence for a given power target is hard enough with an 11-32 and a compact, with 15rpm jumps across some cogs; doing it with a 1x will be even worse. Outside of that environment I suppose it makes some sense but I've never found I needed the "simplicity".

Looking at the Cannondale Slate for my commuter/winter/fun/gravel bike. Had a look at the ratios (think it's 44T x 42T) and it is very similar to a 34/32 so the big climbs will be catered for. Haven't quite got the top end but will never use it in a situation that I'm looking to break records...

i use SRAM cx1 force on road,gravel etc. Brilliant. Wouldnt go back

I've been running a 1x11 for the past 18 months or so on my road/gravel bike.

I was originally running a 42t up front with either an 11-28 or 11-32 cassette. It wasn't too bad but rides with lots of climbing could be hard work. I also tried running the 11-28 with a 50t up front which was good for flat rides but bloody tough on the hills.

Since the start of the year I've been running a SRAM Force 1x11 set up with a 42t up front and a 10/42 cassette. It's been fantastic. Managed a week in The Alps and was never short of gears. I was originally concerned about the gaps between gears but in all honesty it's not bothered me at all.

I think that a 1x12 set up with the 10/42 gear range and closer ratios would be great. Hopefully SRAM will be moving it across from the MTB groupsets onto the road ones soon. 

I've been looking at going back to a double set up with Etap this weekend but decided that it's probably a waste of time. Etap 12 speed could change my mind though!

I've got XTR single setup 36t crank and 11-42 cassette. Works very well, simple to operate. Doesn't quite have the range for a road use, perfect for MTB

go with the OP a 1xetap setup would tempt  me to switch a bike to electronic shifting 

ridden a few 1x mtb rentals and think could get used to it  

Personally, I am unconvinced of the merit of further limiting my gearing options on an existing bike. And paying such a premium for the dubious privilege. 

1 x 12 - I would.