Hi, building up a bike using an on one c456 frame and need some advice on whether 2×10 will be suitable for the riding I use the HT for or whether I need 3×9, as I use my current HT both on the trails (Swinley, Surrey hills etc), on the road, round parks with the kids, etc.

I haven’t bought any of the drivetrain yet, so looking to the STW gurus for some advice.

I’m used to 3×9 and cannot figure out if with 2×10 I will be spinning away like mad on the road, i.e. will I miss the extra ratios for the road riding that I can’t avoid.

Or is there a 2×10 gearing that will do the job for trail and road riding ?

Thanks

My last 2×10 was 24/39
My last 3x (as far as I can remember it was so long ago was probably 22/32/42 so really close. I could move the 39×11 along at a a fair old pace so it certainly wasn’t limiting me, pointing it downhill was the only time I spun out at which point pedalling was pointless.

edit – just looking back at 2 rides (race stages) both on the same bike & smooth dirt road first one was 2×10 24/38 the second was 1×10 32t. The speeds along the starting sections were nearly identical, 32-34kph/20mph

I am afraid it’s utterly personal, you have your last bike for reference and you know what you use it for, the only real reason many people have gone 2xN or 1Xn on MTBs is that the larger rings were pretty redundant for their use, but that doesn’t apply to everyone… Some people will want the full 17~104 gear inches that a triple offers.

If you feel you might need it, you can still buy a 3×10 drivetrain, and should you later decide 2 or even 1×10 would actually suit you better, you can remove/replace chainrings and front mechs, just because you fitted it doesn’t mean it has to stay…

I am afraid it’s utterly personal, you have your last bike for reference and you know what you use it for, the only real reason many people have gone 2xN or 1Xn on MTBs is that the larger rings were pretty redundant for their use, but that doesn’t apply to everyone… Some people will want the full 17~104 gear inches that a triple offers.

If you feel you might need it, you can still buy a 3×10 drivetrain, and should you later decide 2 or even 1×10 would actually suit you better, you can remove/replace chainrings and front mechs, just because you fitted it doesn’t mean it has to stay…

Thanks for that coookeaa, reckon that’s what I’ll go for a 3×10 and see how it goes.

Is there an ideal “do it all” gearing combo for 3x gears ? i.e. 42,32,24 etc ?

No, it’s entirely personal. Shimano think 24/32/42 is the best, as you say, but you can use the more traditional 22/32/44 equally.

Personally I’d say that a double will suffice for 99.99% of people – unless you’re road racing or wanting to sprint down Tarmac hills then a 39-11 top gear will be fine, and 26-36 is a very low gear. You may be in that 0.01% though…

No, it’s entirely personal. Shimano think 24/32/42 is the best, as you say, but you can use the more traditional 22/32/44 equally.
Personally I’d say that a double will suffice for 99.99% of people – unless you’re road racing or wanting to sprint down Tarmac hills then a 39-11 top gear will be fine, and 26-36 is a very low gear. You may be in that 0.01% though…

Thanks for that and nope I’m not in that exclusive 0.01%, probably not even on the top 50% 🙂

My only concern is running out of ‘gear’ when on the road, as I do use the third front large ring and wondered if a 2×10 would provide a comparable gearing.

I’m not a roadie by any means though – only do it to get to the parks/trails – much prefer Mtb.

I don’t mean in performance terms, it’s use case terms. With a 26/39 (for example) in an 11t sprocket you’ll be doing just over 24mph at a modest 90rpm. With a 44t you’ll be doing 27mph. So it basically depends how valuable those 3mph at the top end are.

You could go bigger (28/42 for example), but you trade off the bottom end.

The 0.01% of people are those who really use/need both 22/36 and 44/11. Very few do IMO.

I ran a standard Shimano 22/32 double with a 11-34 (9sp) cassette on my Ht which I used for road commuting duties for a while but eventually swapped it for a 10sp 22/32/44 11-36 and find the higher gears on the triple a lot better for the road. Off road I only really use the mid and occasionally the granny though. Thats just my preference.

I ran a standard Shimano 22/32 double with a 11-34 (9sp) cassette on my Ht which I used for road commuting duties for a while but eventually swapped it for a 10sp 22/32/44 11-36 and find the higher gears on the triple a lot better for the road. Off road I only really use the mid and occasionally the granny though. Thats just my preference.

Thanks Rhid, reckon that this is what I’ll go with – sounds like a good option.

My hardtail has 26/38 up front and an 11-36 cassette, never found myself wanting.

Thanks Rhid, reckon that this is what I’ll go with – sounds like a good option

The double, or the triple? Unless you need the 22t I’d go higher myself if you mean double. I liked 28/42 on 2×10. If you’re riding on the road a 32-11 is quite limiting. I found even a 36-11 a bit of a pain. Not that you’d spin out constantly, but you’ll spend a lot of time in the 11t sprocket, and anything slightly downhill will have your cadence up.

Ignore that if you mean a triple!

Thanks Rhid, reckon that this is what I’ll go with – sounds like a good option

The double, or the triple? Unless you need the 22t I’d go higher myself if you mean double. I liked 28/42 on 2×10. If you’re riding on the road a 32-11 is quite limiting. I found even a 36-11 a bit of a pain. Not that you’d spin out constantly, but you’ll spend a lot of time in the 11t sprocket, and anything slightly downhill will have your cadence up.

Ignore that if you mean a triple!

njee20; I was referring to the Triple option, I’d really like the 2×1 option, which I would get if I wasn’t using the bike on the road. The 3×10 option is a good option as I know it’ll be ok for the road, and as someone else pointed out I can if things change, remove the large ring and fit a bashplate.

OP, use this: http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches and put in your current ratios and those you might switch too. You can sort by speed, cadence and gear inches. I’ve found it useful in the past.

I found the move from 3×9 to 2×10 fine, used standard ratios as fitted (Spesh Stumpy). Lost one gear off top, bottom a shade higher. I’d say 18 usable (as against 23-24)but 2×10 had fewer duplicated. I’d not go back (1×11 is another matter…)

Ratios were (inches)
3×9 44 32 22
11 104.00 75.64 52.00
13 88.00 64.00 44.00
15 76.27 55.47 38.13
17 67.29 48.94 33.65
20 57.20 41.60 28.60
23 49.74 36.17 24.87
26 44.00 32.00 22.00
30 38.13 27.73 19.07
34 33.65 24.47 16.82

2×10 38 24
11 89.82 56.73
13 76.00 48.00
15 65.87 41.60
17 58.12 36.71
19 52.00 32.84
22 44.91 28.36
25 39.52 24.96
28 35.29 22.29
32 30.88 19.50
36 27.44 17.33

I’d really like the 2×1 option, which I would get if I wasn’t using the bike on the road. The 3×10 option is a good option as I know it’ll be ok for the road, and as someone else pointed out I can if things change, remove the large ring and fit a bashplate.

But a double needn’t be inner/middle. Nowt wrong with a triple, but do your research before buying! I’d sooner have a double than a triple myself – less shifting up front.

Only thing I’d warn about 2×10 is the jump between granny and big is often fairly big and I found this leads to really horrible shifting and a lot of chain drop despite good indexing. This was with a SRAM 2x with 26/39t.

I found I was shifting a lot more compared to 3×9 I used to have. With 3x I’d mostly be sat in the middle ring and very occasionally I’d use the granny. Almost never used the big ring though, but then I didn’t ride road. That’s what made me shift to 2x but felt that was a mistake. 2x meant there’s no happy medium, always having to shift up and down.

Still though I realised what I really needed was that middle ring back I had with 3x, which worked out to be a 34t for me, and then with fitness I decided I just can do without the granny. Suits me for Surrey Hills, Swinley, Wales, Alps even… but as said, very much depends on the individual.

So much better without the front mech though 🙂 . p.s. c456 also.