I'm in the process of building up a new 26" Hardtail XC bike.
Trying to pick out my drive-train and looking for advice on 2 x 10 over 2 x 9 speed, or even 1x10 speed?
I'm mostly looking at a good fast winter training bike, which hopefully will get used for some XC and multi discipline style races. Most of my riding is done in North Yorkshire, the Lakes, Northumberland and the boarders, so relatively hilly regions and regards the races I'm looking at endurance style races of over 4 hours.
its a difficult question to answer as its all down to how fit you are and your riding style i.e do you like to spin or put the power down?
personally having raced serveral endurance events (dusk till dawn, bonty 2412, big dog, etc) with both 1 x 10 and 2 x 10, i would say that for the longer events its always good to have that smaller gear at the front just in case you need it during that last hours of the event. i prefer the simplicity of the 1 x 10 system, but its just not that practical for the longer events. for the 2-3 hour events its perfect.
I'd agree with that, I run 1x10 on my race bike, and love it, but would probably stick with a double if I was doing lots of longer races.