So I have faced the harsh reality that I never use the 44t chainring and I am getting soft 🙄

Do you leave the front mech where it was which worked perfectly with the triple set up or do I drop it lower??

Ta in advance

Mine worked fine with no adjustment. Fitted a bash so that stops the overshifting

Can’t see it working very well if you drop it down.

Yup

It works perfectly well now. Why change it?

Shorten the chain though.

I took my 44 off on my old Handsome Dog and changed worn middle ring to 36t. I found I needed to drop the FD down to keep the chain on both rings. It wouldn’t go down all that far before fouling the chainstay & bottle bosses but still helped even with 10+mm gap on the 36. New FD wld be OTT.
Rear mech was knackered so went to med cage & shorter chain. Also helped a bit. Obviously, adjusted FD limit screw too.
New ground clearance is useful too.

drop it down about 5 mm or so ….

The profiles on the plates of the mech are designed to correspond with the chainrings so if the middle and granny were just right before, they’ll be just right now without changing the position. If you drop it down you’ll be living in chain rub city.

I’ve found you can move it down a little, but it’s not long before it starts fouling other things.

One of my bikes has a direct mount front mech, so there isn’t much vertical adjustment. The large gap between the mech and 36t lets the chain fly off on anything remotely bumpy, but a bionicon chain device completely cures it. A clutch rear mech would do the same I imagine.

The profiles on the plates of the mech are designed to correspond with the chainrings so if the middle and granny were just right before, they’ll be just right now without changing the position. If you drop it down you’ll be living in chain rub city.

But the middle ring will now be a few teeth bigger than before – so this is probably not the case ..

I didn’t realise that when you took your big ring off, the others stepped up a size. Is it the extra light that makes them grow?

BJ ( no offence)
if you do as I have done and take off the 44t ring the mech appears too high above the 32t ring
hence the query

It might not look right but it is. Put a bash ring on and it won’t look so bad or get a dedicated 2 ring front mech if you are fussy. I have gone for 22:32:bash and a 3 ring mech just a teeny bit high looking. Works fine. It worked fine without the bash but the chain kept falling to the outside on fast rocky descents.

BJ ta for that