Does the job its designed to do

I ordered a Shimano SLX 1x11 shifter and a 34T Race Face narrow wide chain ring to finish off the 1x11 conversion on my 2009 Cannondale Prophet 1 140mm travel trail bike. The rest of the conversion consist of a XT 11-46 cassette, a XT derailleur and XT 11 speed chain. I lopped another 500g off the weight of the bike which is now 13.1kg inc pedals.
The prices, service and delivery times from Mountain Bikes Direct were outstanding and I will definitely be using them again for future purchases.

As I already had the 1x10 conversion, the 34T with the original cassette was notably over geared for climbs. I added the 32T Race Face with a new 11-42 cassette and wide ratio gearing is now balanced out very well by dropping 2 teeth on the front did help overall. MBD staff helped me selecting the Race Face on the chat answering my questions to the alloy used for better wear qualities.

So far so good...have not lost the chain once in four rides and I have been on some reasonably rough stuff - Red Hill, NSW. Still it is early days and may see a different result when the chain stretches a bit more, but very positive signs to date.

RaceFace make great quality stuff. I have 3 narrow wide ring on different bikes now. For everyday easy MTB they are great without the need for a chainguide. Though on my Santa Cruz Solo, I have dropped the chain a couple of times (even after adjusting my clutch derailleur) on some rough terrain. So now I use a chain guide for piece of mind.

Best upgrade for my 29er ever. The 30t has extruded mounting holes unlike larger sizes that may need spacers or shimming. Fitted to Shimano Deore 104BCD cranks using factory 24t chainring bolts. Still has room to take longer bolts.