Big gears for cheap ;)

Transmission for a gravel bike is quite complicated.

At least if you can't spend thousands in last gen brifters (combined brake and shifter levers), huge cassettes etc. ...

Actually industry is offering nice setup like 1x and hydraulic discs, but effective range can be limiting for many, for instance I used to have a nice GT Grade in 2x11 setup, with a subcompact crank-set 32x46, but it was still too long for real mountains and my fitness level.

Past years MTB development could be the good way for me, with 3x9 being a nice starting point, can't we simply mix road and MTB ???

Yes and no, up to 9s the cable pull and lever were equals in road and MTB, but since 10s it changed ... the cable pull first, and then even the lever (The Tiagra 4600 still use the 1.7x factor like 9s MTB).

So here's the simplest setups you can create now :

Shimano Tourney A073

Very cheap 7s brifter that can be coupled with 7s rear derailleurs

Shimano Claris R2000

A cleaner design 8s brifters

And maybe my favourite, the Sora R3000

It allows a very good efficiency and a very nice versatility.

Then you can use a very large choice of very high quality 9s rear derailleurs.

Even some with the Shadow technology from Shimano that allows a lower footprint, a great durability, serviceability and a huge range.

Let's take a look at the M772 range, in the SGS (long stroke flavour) :

Largest rear gear : 36
Total gears capability : 45 teeth

That mean you can have for instance : 11-34 cassette with 22/32/44 crank set =

34-11 = 23 teeth
44-22 = 22 teeth

That mean a 23+22=45 total teeth capacity, that you can arrange as you want.

A lot of gears for cheap !

It means with 700x35 wheels a range from 5 km/h at 60 rpm up to over 60km/h at 120 rpm.

Imagine the same ratio in 1x ??? You would need something like a 8-50 cassette with a 30 or 32 crank set !!!

Effective and versatile gravel biking still appears difficult, or very expensive for me in 1x. Or at least i'm not fit enough.

Also, compare cost of spare parts like chains and cassette ...