There must be someone out there in the collective conscious with thoughts on this?

I would go for a slx double and bash (22/36) with the 34t on the cassette you should be fine getting up the hill and the 36t middle/big ring at the front will allow for a bit more speed on fire roads etc Here is a [url= http://www.actionsports.de/gb/Components/Cranksets/Shimano-SLX-Kurbel-FC-M665-2-fach::22979.html ]link[/url] to a set of slx cranks. They are from germany so you will have pay a bit for postage but they are much cheaper than over here. There are also a few guys on here that have bought them so they seem to be reliable.
HTH

I currenlty run my hardtail with an 11-34 cassette and 22/36/bashring up front with a double specific Shimano front mech. Works very nicely,and I've never missed my outer ring once. Tried a 32 but kept spinning out.

Tried a 32 but kept spinning out....[u]on roads[/u]

There finished it for you.

If you'r going to run two rings you may as well make then 22/36 or 34, but why not go 1x9 or even 1x10?

A 32t front does tend to mean you're almost always in the right ring for any eventuality. I run 1x10 and before that was on 1x9 for about three yerars now.

36/26 up front with a bash & 3 spd shifter & mech, 11-34 at the back with a short cage xtr rear mech, excellent

No planning on going 10 speed until my cassette wears out and as it only has about 100 miles on it, that's not likely for a while.

I've seen a Race Face Deus XC Double pretty cheap @ CRC and it's a 22/32 but the bash is a 34t one, so the scope is there to change to a bigger front ring if I find the 32 too spinny.

Not overly bothered about spinning out on long fire roads to be honest

26/36 was my favourite 9sp setup,Ran it for ages on my Nicolai FR.

[img] [/img]

XT chainset, 26/38 chainrings, 11-32 cassette.

Perfect.

I have 36/22 SLX double and bash. I would prefer a 32 front. I never spin out off road and would have less front changes with a 32. My riding buddy has a 32 middle ring on his double set up and to be honest it's much better.

You won't spin out on a 32t by 11t in my view, unless you're seriously quick down hill.

I run 11-34 with 27-42 but I use that for racing so maybe not what you're after?

This is what i'm thinking as I very very rarely use the big ring on my FS anymore

22 - 32 - 44
11 - 52.8 - 76.8 - 105.6

14 - 41.5 - 60.4 - 83.0

16 - 36.3 - 52.8 - 72.6

18 - 32.3 - 47.0 - 64.6

20 - 29.1 - 42.3 - 58.1

23 - 25.3 - 36.7 - 50.5

26 - 22.3 - 32.5 - 44.7

30 - 19.4 - 28.2 - 38.7

34 - 17.1 - 24.9 - 34.2

I think the ratios probably aren't right for an 11-34 1, but as a direct comparison you only seem to loose 2 or 3 gears. BTW thats in gear inches

22t granny is useless, **** knows why they even make them
26t is way more useable
26/36 with 11-32

All depends on where you ride and your pedaling style surely Bighendo 😉

I run 22/36/bash with a 11-34 cassette on a 30lbs plus full sus trail bike. For the lighter hardtail I run a single 34T ring and an N-gear jump stop (light device that stops your chain falling off) at the front and it's fine for most off-road stuff where I live (steep hills). I spin out with a 36T ring downhill but it makes you concentrate more on trying to get speed from riding smoothly rather than just pedalling as hard as you can. Can't really go wrong with shimano cranks as far as I'm concerned.

Oh forgot, have a look at this, from a thread ages ago.

[img] [/img]

Ignoring the 36t cog, you can see that even with 26/38 chainrings, there's still a fair few overlapping gears. So with 26/36, there's even more. Don't see the point in running such close chainrings.

Interestingly at 90rpm on a 36t by 11t, you'd be doing 22.7mph, whereas on a 32t by 11t at 90rpm you'd be doing 20.2mph.

Not much different really.