After a recent bike holiday i'm leaning towards the double and bash route on my 'big' bike (Marin Wolf Ridge Quad 140).
What's the best set up for this? Is sticking with the standard 32 middle ring a good idea or should i be looking at a 36 tooth ring?
Do i need to alter the spacing of the chainset so i can use a wider spread of gears etc?
All info gratefully accepted! 
I just dropped the big ring off and replaced it with a bash guard. Using the same rings and shifter as before. I hardly ever used the big ring anyway.
Did this on my Spicy and a couple of other bigger bikes
Running 36 and 22 on the front with 9 on the rear
Had no issues so far and have not altered anything apart from the stop screws on the front mech
Also have a bash ring too
May go for the 10 speed set up next though once the drivetrain goes
36/22 here 9 speed, I think for me a 32 would be too low
I've run 36/22 on the front and 11-28 on the back for the last couple of years..
I've had to re-think the gearing a bit since moving to a much steeper and harsher location though, so I'm just now trying 32/22 with 11-32 for the winter to see I get on with that..
One of my riding mates runs 36/22 on an 8-speed cassette and doesn't seem to have any trouble so maybe thats the way to go. It's a standard SLX chainset, i take it there are 36 tooth rings to suit?
EDIT: It's a standard 11-32 cassette as well, so shouldn't have much trouble with hills etc.
My double is an slx chainset
Using SLX double and bash on my '08 Wolf Ridge, 22/36 on the front and 11-32 on the back.
Only problem is that I didn't have a proper front derailleur in the box and because of the welds on the frame I couldn't set it up properly. It only rubs in the top couple of gears but need to get that sorted. I bought the frame second hand and built it up from parts on the old bike so you might not have the same problem.
Oh, and havn't missed the big ring yet...do it!
What i'm thinking about is chainline, and the ability to use more of the cassette in the granny ring. If i shift the chainset outboard with a spacer ring on the BB will that cause problems?
I've recently been tempted to just buy a double and bash to allow swaps between triple and double on my Pitch. Each crank could have its own chain, and with relative ease I could switch between double and bash and triple...
I run a 32/22 up front and I have not felt I needed a higher ratio even when spinning downhill on the road.
Got a 36 - 24 on the front and 11-34 on one bike and am going to fit a 22-32 and 11-32 on the rear on another bike when the current stuff wears out. Not noticed a major difference whehn gone from a triple except maybe less shifting on the front. Try it.
I've been running a double & bash setup for about 2 years now.
Mine is setup with a 24/36 front and 11-34 rear (9 speed).
This gives me a good range & I don't miss the gears I no longer have.
If you can get a chain device at the same time then do so.
I'm not running a chain device (can't get one to fit), but have dropped a few links out of the chain, so don't drop the chain that often.
32/22 and 11-32 here.
Don't miss the high gears at all, and 32 is nice as you can do all but the really steep stuff on that ring.
Originally I just took the big ring off, worked decently well but occasionally fell off the top side (and there's no ramps, so once it's off it won't pedal back on). So ended up changing to a 36 ring and lightweight bashrings. Never considered going back.
It should be the default option IMO, big rings like 1x9 have their place but people who want it can easily add it.
My Missus's 2008 Rock Springs (same frame as a 2009 Wolf Ridge) is fitted with an SLX double and bash.
You want to go for a 36T middle ring, which will give you plenty of flexibility. Either you could go for a ready made solution with SLX double and bash, or you could buy a bashring and 36T chainring which will do the same job - just make sure that your bashring is 36-38T in size.
In normal use, you'll never notice the loss of the big ring.
I have 3 mountain bikes and none of them have a big ring on them.
I ditched the big ring on the Gemini in preparation for its first trip to Canadia and never got round to putting it back on. Pretty soon I realised that I never really used the big ring except going downhill on the road and since I don't care how fast I go on tarmac and am more than happy to freewheel as often as possible I never looked back.
The only changes I made over time were to switch the middle rings to 34t and the cassette to 11-34 on the double+bash bikes, 11-36 on the 1x9+bash.
I've converted a pitch and kept the 32t front ring for a while, bettter when I moved to 36 though. I didn't bother moving the chainset out with spacers, it still felt happy enough in all gears. tbh the 22t front was rarely used anyway
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