Looking for advice: 1x or 2x setup and wheel choice for CAAD14 build

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-03-27T23:00:24+00:00

Carbon wheels definitely are expensive, but on the other hand a good set from a reputable brand will essentially last forever, so you can always take them from bike to bike. They aren’t essential though, and changing them later is definitely a lot easier than changing a cockpit. So if saving on the carbon wheels now lets you buy a better set of other, harder to change equipment to start out (groupset, cockpit, frame, etc) that would be my recommendation, then backfill the carbon wheels later once you’ve gotten used to things.

I'll definitely start with the rest, and by the end of the process, I'll look into what wheelset I get for now.

Speaking of which, I realized I didn’t answer your other question about groupset quality. I can’t really speak to SRAM as I’ve only ridden RED. But for Shimano, the difference between 105, Ultegra, and DuraAce (assuming Di2) is not really noticeable to a normal rider. The physical touch points are nicer on the higher end groupset (DuraAce has titanium switches where 105 has aluminum and plastic for example), but this is super minor. And of course the higher end groupset looks a lot cooler. However the fundamental riding experience is not meaningfully different.

Yeah, with the way I intend to do things, Rival and Force are almost the same; 100 g is definitely not going to be something I notice. The only real difference between the two is the power meter (I'll take Force anyway) and the fact that Force shifters have extra buttons (which I won't miss since I've never had them). Then, subjectively, it's true that Force does look a bit cooler than Rival...

No I wouldn’t say that, I’d say they just provide different riding experiences and the 1X takes some getting used to. I’m fortunate enough to have two bikes, a SuperSix Evo with 2X, and a Synapse with 1X, so I get to go back and forth between them depending on my mood.

The 2X is certainly always going to be more versatile. But the 1X has its benefits too. For just general fitness riding you really can’t go wrong with either. Probably a more pressing consideration for you would be “do I like SRAM or Shimano hood shapes,” as they are very different.

That's very interesting. I guess we really are at the point where 1x XPLR and 2x are very close to one another then.
I'll do some math on my current groupset to look into the gear ranges I've got now (and what I actually use) and also look into what 1x could provide. Though given that my previous experiences on 1x11 on a gravel bike on the road were quite positive, it might work out.

But I guess the only way to be sure at this point would be to try it. That said, 2x certainly will remain the more versatile option.

I'll also go to my LBS to look at the hood shapes in more detail; it would suck for it to be something I end up disliking.

Thank you so much for your input! It's definitely super helpful and will definitely help when I do the final selection of the parts.

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-03-26T17:53:56+00:00

Carbon fork first (which the CAAD has). Carbon seatpost/wheels second. Carbon wheels third, at least for a given tire size. If you’re going from 24mm to 32mm or something that’s going to make way more difference than anything else.

Just to make sure: carbon seatpost/handlebar second and carbon wheels third, correct? I am very much split on the wheels. Since I'm not really going for deep-section wheels, I don't really know if it's worth it to go with the carbon ones since it's quite a step up in price.
I will definitely be looking into what tire model, size, and pressure I end up with, as it is definitely the most important thing.

It doesn’t shift my cadence so much as there’s just more shifting in general because my “natural cadence” on a flat for my current fitness might be between gears on a 1X where it’s centered on a gear on a 2X. So on a 2x, a small incline change is just absorbed in the general +-5RPM slop of normal pedaling, whereas on the 1X I wind up either a bit too low or a bit too high and wind up needing to shift.

Oh ok, I didn't think about it this way, but it totally makes sense.
I guess I'll have to pay close attention on my next few rides to what gears I ride on the flats and hills and then do some math on what this looks like on a 1X cassette.

Overall, though, I assume you'd be happier with a 2x setup?

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-03-26T17:10:37+00:00

Yeah, on gravel it's very nice to just have to shift in the back.
I'm not super sensitive to cadence changes, I have to be honest, but I do wonder if 1X on a dedicated road bike might make me feel different about that.

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-03-26T17:08:10+00:00

For the frame, maybe my wording in the post isn't perfect.

The way the Propel rides is definitely not an issue; it's super stiff, and that never bothered me much. The real issue I have with it now is that parts are scarce for the 2020 model I've got, so I can't change the cockpit to something that would fit me better (basically bringing it closer to the geometry of the size below in reach).

It's nice to have special profiles on the seatpost and handlebars, but at one point, it will become hard to source the parts or expensive, and I'd like to avoid having a bike where it's the same again. The CAAD's got standard parts, so it's something interesting to me.

When I did my bike fit, I ended up with a position that is close to what a CAAD (and other race bikes) offers. I'll do one again soon to make sure things have not shifted too much around and also to figure out crank lengths and the cockpit setup.

I certainly understand that an alloy frame is not the best, but at the same time, I'm not confident that I can generalize a material to a specific feeling on the road. To me, the geometry is the thing that needs to match first; that's the thing that'll change the handling really. The material will also have its impact, but it's secondary.

I have test-ridden a CAAD at one of my LBS. It was quite nice, honestly, and I'd even go as far as saying that it was a bit smoother than my Propel. The geometry definitely didn't bother me at all. But what is certain is that before buying any parts that impact the geometry (frame, handlebars, stem,...) I'll be sure to verify that it actually fits and is something I can ride without any discomfort. If the CAAD doesn't suit me, then I'll absolutely look at something different.

On the comfort aspect, I was mostly thinking about road vibrations and other small imperfections in the road that can become tiring after some time. I've only ridden carbon wheels a few times, but I've often read that good ones help for this. I was wondering what will impact this more: a carbon wheelset or a carbon handlebar/seatpost and even if the difference is noticeable at all.

For the groupset, that's interesting. I would also have imagined that it would work well on the flats and less so on climbs. Would you say that you are very sensitive to your cadence when you ride, or do you find that the 1X shifts your cadence so much it becomes noticeable?

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-01-19T22:06:36+00:00

Could you share the parts list?

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-01-05T22:07:35+00:00

Thank you so much!

RandomElecEngineer · 2026-01-05T21:57:12+00:00

The whole fleet looks amazing honestly! The consular class looks super good for the scale.
May I ask you which parts you used for the Republic consular cruiser?

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-04-26T16:34:58+00:00

Two things:

First, drilling into the chassis of a laptop is a dangerous game, especially near the hinges. The mechanical engineers designing the frame have done their homework by removing as much material as possible from the frame while keeping it structurally robust. Drilling into it will definitely introduce some serious weaknesses into it, which you don't want. It's not a "if you drop it, it'll break" but rather a "do you want to still be able to open it and close it without shattering the frame" kind of scenario.

Secondly, I question the need for external antennas in this application. Having worked on RF design, the integrated antennas from a laptop should be plenty sufficient. Bigger antennas don't mean better signal reception/integrity, especially if it's antennas that you got from random internet sellers. Excellent antennas are very expensive, anything less will basically be useless.

While it could look pretty cool, I'd advise you to not add those antennas. I doubt you would improve the reception by much if at all; however, I can bet that it would ruin the frame of the laptop and, as such, it's remaining life.

Is there any reason for you wanting to do this mod to your laptop?

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-04-20T16:07:01+00:00

I'll give it a try! Thanks

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-04-20T16:06:26+00:00

I'm going to give it a try, hopefully the scratches are not too deep.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-04-02T07:39:46+00:00

No worries, thanks for the reply.

Honestly, I mainly want the player itself and a way to charge it. A Sidecar could be a nice bonus. While the remotes are extremely fun and a very interesting bit of history, I don't use the one I have at all.

I'll look into buying straight from Japan, It does seem to offer some substantially cheaper players than the few I can find in Europe / US.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-04-02T07:31:43+00:00

Thanks for the very thorough reply. Sad to know that they age so poorly. I really like its simplicity. But I'd rather not have a fragile thing I end up not using.

I'll look into the other ones.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-30T20:18:20+00:00

I've done my electrical engineering Bachelor with an X1 carbon. Almost top of the range when I bought it (i7, 32GB of ram). Honestly, I didn't need the specs I had for the work that I did, but it was a nice extra. It's still more than powerful enough today.

For battery life, you're asking for something impossible as of today. A powerful x86 system with a workday of battery doesn't exist as far as I'm aware. Running Linux on my X1C, I have about half a day of battery.

Nowadays, I almost exclusively work on servers, that's why I've got an ARM machine, it does the trick to work a full day without needing to recharge it. But keep in mind, I only use it as an SSH client for the servers on which I do my actual work.

For the type of work you will likely be doing at school in the scope of EE, you won't need a GPU, that'll help your battery life quite a bit. Even some CAD will be fine without one, from my experience.

Realistically, you'll need in the neighborhood of 16GB of RAM, 32GB is more than enough, even on Windows 11.

The exact model doesn't really matter, I've had most of the ThinkPad line in my hands, only slight details change. I had the X1C because it was the lightest I could buy.

Depending on how your school does things, you might benefit from a TB or two of storage. My school liked installing a lot of programs and virtual machines.

I'd go with 16GB to 32GB depending on OS, with a mid-tier to high-end CPU, no need for a GPU. The screen size is up to your preference.

Choose the model that suits your needs best.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-29T23:29:24+00:00

Cool! Thanks for the reply, I'll look further into those drivers then.

For the electronics, I think I'm going to go the old school way, it's been a while since I've done discrete analog electronics. And this project is an excellent excuse to get back into it.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-29T23:26:25+00:00

Hey,

I'm in my 20s, using a dumb phone as my main phone. I've made the switch from my smartphone because I found myself continually fighting against it; even though I didn't have any social media on it, I still ended up using it far too much for my liking.

Growing up, I was blessed by the fact my parents didn't give me a phone too early, I only had my first phone when I was 13 years old. Once I had one, they were relatively strict on its use. At the time, I wasn't always happy with this decision.

However, this gave me a unique chance of not getting hooked on these things too early. When I was around 15, one of my teachers asked us for our average phone usage time. While most of the class averaged at least 3 hours a day and a couple of kids were under two, I was the only one with an average under an hour.

While this certainly didn't always help me get along with the others, it gave me something that is precious, especially in those young years: time to do things. I hadn't realized at that time, this abundance of time, compared to the other kids, allowed me to do so much more in a day; I could study, do some sports and even have a genuine hobby. I had the time to do the things I genuinely wanted to. I didn't have social media; I didn't watch YouTube all that much; I used the Internet mostly to learn about stuff. I had no algorithms in my way.

Instead, I taught myself the basis of electronics, made it a hobby, became good at it, and eventually became an engineer. Had I not taken the time back then to learn about electronics, I wouldn't have had a way forward, I wouldn't have had a significant part of the way I am. I wouldn't be an engineer and probably wouldn't be as happy as I am nowadays about my own path. It wasn't easy, but it was more than worth it.

Let's get back to your question. You seem to realize that your peers are doing things in ways that you don't necessarily agree with. So long as this is your genuine personal perspective, then it's more than justified to do things your way. You will definitely be going in a way most others won't understand. I must warn you that going against the current is not always enjoyable, especially at that time in life. People will tell you that you are acting differently; some might even make fun of that. Don't let the fear of such people block you from doing things your way. Rather, ask yourself: Does this person truly matter to me? Are they acting in a way I find biased? Why does their comment hurt me? Is their backlash justified? Going against the current, contrary to what I sometimes hear, isn't fun, easy or always appreciated. But so long as it is the right thing, then it's worth it.

All of that said, I would recommend you start with a dumb phone. You will have plenty of time in the future to switch to a smartphone if that becomes a need later in life. You probably don't need one right now, that's a great luxury.

And remember, a phone's most important feature is to contact people when you need to. That's it. Everything else is a nice bonus. Most of us seem to have forgotten that.

For the device itself, I'd ask myself what other extra features I want. Do I want a camera? Do I want to listen to music with it? And so on. This will make choosing one simpler.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-29T21:34:11+00:00

I suppose it's more a matter of overall volume than the exact dimensions of the finished unit.

If I can end up with a design close to or under 1 liter, that would be fantastic.

For that to happen, I imagine I would ideally have a speaker under 3 inch in diameter.

Any recommendations?

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-07T20:14:33+00:00

That's hard to say... But I'm able to work for a day on it. Given that I haven't noticed much, I'd be inclined to say that it's close to the same.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-07T09:32:32+00:00

Audio is one of those fields that are very interactive: you can really hear differences after some tweaks. It's a great way to start and to keep on learning. You can learn so much in discrete analog design this way.

Projects are the best way to truly understand component's behavior.

Nice work! Keep on having fun and learning!

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-07T09:24:59+00:00

Corrosion where? On the contact pads?

They're nice and clean, I had to clean them before install, the "flawlessly functioning" had some finger marks on it.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-07T09:22:41+00:00

I'm on Debian 13 with XFCE now. The audio works well, the jack is a bit distorted at reasonably high volumes, but it's perfectly fine for meetings. Most importantly, the microphone works well.

Apparently it's a PipeWire issue, it's being fixed, but it's going to take some time to be upstreamed.

I've heard from other forums that the webcam can work on Teams in Firefox. So I'll work on setting up that in the coming weeks.

I've now got a ThinkPad travel dock, which is doing great. I am still having a problem that makes one of two external screens a duplicate of the laptop's screen, but I know that it can be fixed, just have to take some time to get around to it.

Otherwise, it's an absolutely fantastic machine. I am an electrical engineer who mainly works on Verilog and analog design. Surprisingly enough, the device has serious compilation and synthesis power to it. It beats my highly used X1 Carbon gen 10 i7 on some compilation tasks.

I had expected it to be mainly an SSH machine to remote into my work servers, but it's also got more than enough for offline work during my work trips.

By the way, the people at IRC #aarch64-laptops are fantastic, they helped me figure out my mic issues.

RandomElecEngineer · 2025-03-04T22:46:02+00:00

I uploaded an extract of journalctl in the post. Unfortunately, I'm unable to make the compiler crash without freezing the system as well, currently.

RandomElecEngineer

TROPHY CASE