I’ve not used a triple on a mountain bike for at least 2 years, don’t miss the big outer ring at all even on road sections. I don’t spin out even with a 32t middle – probably just don’t push hard enough but I don’t really pedal on downhills!

22/36 upfront with a bashguard and 11/34 at the back suits me just fine. Its only trying to haul ass on a big open decent that I run out of gears and speed, but that isn’t why I go mountain biking. For great trail riding it works just fine.

Running 2X9 27/42 11-32 on my Orbea and haven’t missed the 22T once, the fact I never used it when running the triple didn’t influence me. Most of the climbing I did was in the region og 500m over 5-10km, so quite long and steady. Even the shorter, steeper climbs haven’t caused problems. I reckon that if I could do stuff on the 32:16 single speed a double would work just fine.

I think a double, or even a triple, would be useful on some occasions having read Matt Page’s accounts of the Ironbike race in the Alps…

As has been said – what works best for one person won’t for others… It all depends on fitness (the biggie), terrain, bike weight, riding style… Personally, where I ride at trail centres, N Downs, Swinley and XC race courses I find 1×10 or 1×9 perfect for my blend of all those things. I ride past a lot of people on the uphill bits at such places for whom a 36t single ring would not be perfect. As I said, it all depends… This isn’t one of those questions that has one answer.

GB

TJ has said no such thing as you admit.

I’ll concede that when I paraphrased TJ I thought he’d been a bit stronger in his wording, but what fun is it to back down mid-argument 🙂

I wouldn’t use a single ring on a ‘trail’ bike myself, I’d rather have something a bit more spinny then for sure, just in case, it just wouldn’t be a 22t!

TJ you can still get 5-arm 20t rings, I’ll wager you could get some seriously cheap cranks too, combine with an 11-36 block and you really would never run out of gears.

Stupid technical question part umpteen:

If I were to go 2×9 using a triple crank, does it matter whether the rings used are ‘position-specific’, ie. would a 40t ‘outer’ work OK on the middle ring bolts?

Andy