Sorry … New to this roadie lark!

If I have a 2×10 set up and want to change my cranks to a triple rather than the double … Do I also need to change the left hand shifter?

Thanks in anticipation

Yes

Unless you have a very good reason for this, may I suggest you have a think about rule #5 and reconsider.

Yes you do need to change.
Unless you’re touring don’t bother though as you can achieve the same with a wide range cassette.

Thanks

…. Rule #5?

Yes, sorry.

Which might make it with seeing if you can get the ratios you need with a double – SRAM do their ‘wifli’ stuff which is basically a big cassette (up to 32, I think) and a long cage rear mech to accommodate the extra range. Might be cheaper than new cranks and a shifter.

Unless you have a very good reason for this, may I suggest you have a think about rule #5 and reconsider.

Relevant as rule 5 often is, you also don’t need to go down the route of a triple to get low gearing.

As long as you’ve got a compact (50/34) not a STD (53/39), if you’re running 9 or 10spd you can readily run an 11-32 cassette in conjunction with a medium cage mech, giving you an almost 1:1 bottom gear that you would normally get with a Triple chainset.

The Rules

rule 5 HardenTFU

…. Rule #5?

Rule 5 of being a roadie:

Rule # 5
Harden The **** Up

Other posters are right on, a wide range cassette will probably be enough to give you the ratio your looking for. Use Sheldon Browns gear calculator to get an idea of what you can get with a triple and your current cassette vs your current double and a wide range cassette.

More helpful answer this time. Rule 5 is a reference to http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/.

All the people saying to get a wider range cassette are right. You should be able to lower the bottom gear enough to make a difference for just the cost of a cassette (Assuming you have compact chainset ). It worked for me.

EDIT: I’m a bit slow tonight

**** the rules.

I ride my bike to get away from all that shit.

There are some shifters that are double/triple compatible. The unreliable early 5600 105s were, I think. But like others have said a wide range cassette and possibly a compact chainset is the easy option.

Cheers all

Gary_C …. Me to!! … I’m 53 and really can’t be arsed H’ing TFU …. I’d rather just mellow then rot! 😉