looking to change the rings on an old chainset and fancy going double. Whats the chainrings of choice?

Will be going from a 44-32-22. Dont use the big much off road, unless on the occaisional fire road, flat or downhill, but dropping to 39 seems a large loss of power?

Would I struggle going from a 22 granny to a 28? The majority of time I spend on the inner 32 with an 11-34 casette, only using the granny for twisty uphill singletrack.

Also are Blackspire chainrings any good? or should I be looking at middelburn?

i have a 42/28 on my 29er with a 11/34 cassette, after swapping from a 22/32 & 11/36 combination, which i found pathetically ‘under geared’ – to be honest im still struggleing to find the right combination. Its fine for the trails around Bristol, where i live, but i quite regularly go to Wales and now feel a little ‘over geared’ – when my mates are in 1st gear i have to leave them behind and pump my way up the hills (it does mean that they think i’m the God of hills though, as i have time to recover waiting for them).

i’ll proberly swap back down to 26/38 on the front when the rings wear out.

the blackspire rings i’ve had in the past have been fine, as have middleburn – niether as good as the big S for shifting though.

What do you mean overgeared, the 42 is too much and not needed?

yes – 1st is too high and 20th is hardley used

So you would recommend a 39-26? bear in mind I will have 11-34 (9speed)

Does anyone do a 32/22 double?

Higher gears on a 29er anyway, so a 42 on a 29er is harder than a 44 on a 26″ wheel.

I liked 28/40 as a double, you could do 26 or 27 on the inner if you want a slightly wider range.

Even with a 39 or 40t big ring you only lose out on the very top end, I never found I struggled, even on the road, you can still pedal >25mph.

Currently using 38/32 up front (32 just so I have a 1:1 with an 11-32 cassette for emergencies). I was going to go 1×9 but bottled it.

previously used middleburn duo setup as 29/42 with an 11-32 cassette but found the jumps a little odd on the 42 , though this may have been as I was using a 12-27 cassette with a 44/32/22 setup before. I did find a 40/28 and a 11-28 cassette was quite nice…

Still not convinced the rear sprocket setup is ok for me, so am lining up my next change when it all wears out to be a 36/24 and a 11-25 cassette and see how that feels.

so, down to where and how you ride, if you go for the lower of the two, the 39/26 you can always either fit a lower range cassette or a larger if you use a 11-32 and don’t get on with it.

18/54 mostly……(well not really)

Personal and location specific really. Why loose the 22? 36 is good and fast for most singletrack.

How big are the hills, how many? How often do you run out of gears in the middle ring.

There is no magic formula, average of what everyone else is using only works if they are doing similar stuff to you and ride like you.

(sorry if this is no help)

so am lining up my next change when it all wears out to be a 36/24 and a 11-25 cassette and see how that feels.

Don’t get that at all, why not go 36t single ring with 11-36? I found close ratio blocks to be of no use at all off road, you’re changing massive handfuls of gears constantly, and forever shifting on the front.

I’ve got 26/38 with 11-36t on my 29’er HT and 22/32 with 11/34t on my 26″ FS.

The FS feels really undergeared after riding the 29’er, but then again it does get used on big days out

I have 40/27 on one bike, and 42/29 on another. both middleburn and with 11-34 cassette.

I prefer the 40/27 offroad.

so am lining up my next change when it all wears out to be a 36/24 and a 11-25 cassette and see how that feels.

Don’t get that at all, why not go 36t single ring with 11-36? I found close ratio blocks to be of no use at all off road, you’re changing massive handfuls of gears constantly, and forever shifting on the front.

+1

I have previously tried almost that exact setup 12-25 Road cassette with 36/24 up front, and found myself forever blatting up to the 25t sprocket when in the 36t chainring and then having to dump the chain onto the granny and flick down the block at the worst possible times, why not just go 36/22 with an 11-32 cassette, good broad spread of gear in reasoanble increments same top end gear, but a bit more spinney bottom end for winching should you need it…

It can all be done with pretty standard parts (rings/cassettes) and you can do it in 8, 9 or 10 speed as well…

Although (IMO) there’s no point going for 10 speed and using anything but an 11-36 block, at which point you may as well just go 1×10, you’ll have the same top ratio and near as dammit the same low.

I’ve gone to 39/26 36 and i’m sold on it. i like the spacing between the 39 and 26, so on some steep ups and downs you can change gear just on the front with out massive gaps.
Also runninh 32/22 32 on the hard tail, i just dropped the 42 as i seems to catch it more than i used it. as a set up it works, its not right, but its ok.

Your current lowest gear – 22/34 combo is 16.8 gear inches. A 26/36 lowest gear (26/39 double with an 11-36 cassette) would be 18.7 gear inches, so only slightly harder.

At the top end, a 42/11 combo gives you 99.2 whereas a 39/11 gives you 92.

I find I much prefer a double and I doubt you’d miss that slightly higher top gear. If you have the cash, the shifting on the Sram XX chainrings is superb but they do seem to wear quite quickly.

so am lining up my next change when it all wears out to be a 36/24 and a 11-25 cassette and see how that feels.

Don’t get that at all, why not go 36t single ring with 11-36? I found close ratio blocks to be of no use at all off road, you’re changing massive handfuls of gears constantly, and forever shifting on the front.

+1

I have previously tried almost that exact setup 12-25 Road cassette with 36/24 up front, and found myself forever blatting up to the 25t sprocket when in the 36t chainring and then having to dump the chain onto the granny and flick down the block at the worst possible times, why not just go 36/22 with an 11-32 cassette, good broad spread of gear in reasoanble increments same top end gear, but a bit more spinney bottom end for winching should you need it…

It can all be done with pretty standard parts (rings/cassettes) and you can do it in 8, 9 or 10 speed as well…

Maybe I should clarify this a bit more..

when I ran 42/29 and a 11-32 I barely used the 29, currently I hardly ever use the 38-32 and have not yet (though I like having the option) used the 32 chainring. Think I’m a bit of a gear masher.

Yes I could be up in the 36-25 a fair bit, but I do like close ratio cassettes when bombing along singletrack. Quick gear changes are fine for me, I run gripshift 😉

If I need any lower than the 25 I’ll reconsider, but in practice I tend more toward the ‘if singlespeeders can do it on 32-16 then I can get about on 36-25!’

🙂

I tend more toward the ‘if singlespeeders can do it on 32-16 then I can get about on 36-25!’

So why run an inner ring at all? Save a chunk of weight and make things simpler with 1xwhatever you run?

Just not sure what you achieve by running 2 rings (but not really using one) and a close ratio block when you could have the same range with a single ring, saving money, weight, making things simpler and avoiding duplicate ratios 😕

It’s the bail out if I ride somewhere outwith my normal routes. Nice to have the options of something lower. Single ring made me nervous, I moved from the 40/28 and a 11-28 cassette to a single 38, but just wasn’t that pleased with not having the option at all!

Probably the same reason that’s carried through for me from the early 90’s with my 50/34/24 and a 12-28 8 speed. Never used the 24 blatting around the malverns but never took it off either!

Anyway, this kinda seems like it’s becoming a bit of a hijack, so, the OP, should go for 39/26, unless they’re odd or have big thighs, or happily run a singlespeed, or something like that…

what they mate it to depends upon how they ride…personally if I were stuck with that choice, I’d run an SLX 11-28. Most folk on here would have bought mountain tamers in 1992 (remember them?) so will opt for 11-36.

Just not sure what you achieve by running 2 rings (but not really using one) and a close ratio block when you could have the same range with a single ring, saving money, weight, making things simpler and avoiding duplicate ratios

njee talks sense… Lots of sense. Don’t see why on earth you’re bothering with a close ratio cassette on the back of a mountain bike. I find a 12-25 a PITA on a road bike even, forever changing gears rather than just picking one and sticking with it! I’ll probably put an 11-28 cassette on the road bike soon I imagine so it’s got a slightly wider spread.

It’s the bail out if I ride somewhere outwith my normal routes.

BUT YOU DON’T USE IT!!! And 32/25 is not a bail out gear by anyone’s stretch of the imagination… Even if you fitted a 22T inner ring, that would only give you 22/25 which is still equivalent to most people’s 3rd cog down on their granny!

As njee says, you’re running unecessary weight and complication “just in case” you think you’ll need it. And your “just in case” is still very high anyway. If you changed lock stock over to 10spd with 1×10 and an 11-36 cassette with 36T chainring, you’d have more range than you’ve got currently and it would be much simpler! Hell, even if you just went 1×9 with an 11-32 or 11-34 cassette and a 36T ring, you’d still have more gear range than you’ve got curently. All you’re doing with a close ratio cassette and 2 chainrings close to each other is creating numerous duplicate ratios, which is totally pointless!

To answer the OP’s question… Depends on too many variables to say what will be best for the individual. I am a spinner, with a 44T outer chainring on a bike, I never get past about 6th cog on the back. So it’s totally pointless me ever having a chainring even approaching that big on a mountain bike. I’ve found a 36T ring is absolutely ideal for me as 36/11 is about as fast as I ever need, and on my full sus I run 24/36/bash with an 11-36 cassette. Very rarely use all the gears as low as 24/36 which is my bottom gear, but they’re there if I need them. ON my hardtail I’ve gone 1×10, it’s about 5lb lighter and it sprints much better, I tried a 36T ring on it though and whilst it was perfect for most of my riding, I wanted a slightly lower than 1:1 bottom gear. So I fitted a 32T ring and I just spin faster on the spinny bits.

Well Ive gone for a 39-26, see how I get on.

Now the issue is what front mech I need as I think there are some incompatibility issues with a flux frame and running smaller (less than 42) double chainsets. I think i need a high mount top pull mech, but silverfish are saying use a shimano one over SRAM not sure why. Still waiting for a reply. Anyone got a flux running a double?

SRAM ones are different by chainring size, Shimano aren’t, which I imagine is why Silverfish are suggesting Shimano.