I am sure this has been done lots of times before but I went back quite a few pages and didn't find anything, so here goes: I want to go down to two rings on my cranks (Shimano).
I am thinking of getting rid of the big ring and not replacing it with a bashguard, using some narrow singlespeed bolts, and keeping the middle and granny, but I'm not sure which ratios work best. I have a spare 36t ring I could put on to replace the middle, but I was wondering if I would spin out using this. The cassette is a 11-32t.
Is the other option of just removing the granny a viable one? Would I need to replace the granny with a plate?
I generally use this bike as a local play/xc bike, and there is nothing around here to warrant a 22t chainring.
If you take off the granny just use the throw limiting screws on the front mech to limit its movement accordingly. Works fine - done it using a middleburn duo and also a triple chainset with the granny removed as you propose.
If you use a 36 instead of a 44 you lose the top two gears only. I can spin it to over 30 mph ( but feet whizzing round) but mid 20s is easy thats fast enough for me offroad 🙂
22/36 gives all the gars I ever need - 2.5 mph to 25 mph at a reasonable cadence
"36t ring I could put on to replace the middle, but I was wondering if I would spin out using this. The cassette is a 11-32t."
My brother has his bike like this
I quite the look of it without the bashguard
He says its rare to have problems without the bash
One problem you may have is getting the front mech low enough, ideally you want it as close to the 32/36 ring as you would a 44, but many frames, especially FSers don't have room on the seattube due to suspension gubbins
Remember to shorten the chain accordingly, big chainring, big rear sprocket + 1 pair links, accounting for the point in the rear suspension with max. chain extension (if its a FS)
11-34 and 24/36 was perfect for me - I never span out off road. If you do a lot of road though you may find it a touch low but since I try and keep my mtb for mtbing not road riding that was never an issue.
22/36 x 11-32 here, on my fast-ish bike 36x11 is a plenty tall enough gear for non-racing IMO, even downhill on fireroad/tarmac. The jump from 22-36 is a rather noticeable tho, bit slower shifting the chain and you normally have to shift more cogs than usual at the same time too. I quite like climbing in the middle ring too but 36x32 is a bit too much, ok for short quick blasts but no good if you need to save your legs for big miles. A bigger and or 10speed cassette may fix this.
TBH I ride 22/32 most of the time and put up with slightly spinny/slow road/fireroad sections, should probably try 22-34 but I aint got a 34t bashring (dont use one on the fast bike)