[Closed] Soo.. who else is switching from 2x10 back to 3x9 / 3x10??

If your racing you need to get stronger. There are reasons why 2x* makes sense.

If you want to go back to 3x* do so, but be aware that if you pick the right chainrings and cassette there is very little benefit to be gained. and you do gain a few problems.

Seems like you have more problems with 1x or 2x with the rate the rear mech wears out.

As for climb size, Le Chable to Col de Gentiannes in the Val de Bagnes on a 2x9, in prep for the Grand Raid Cristalp. Is that a big enough climb?

Really depends on the gradient, I'm not familiar with that climb.

Climb hardness has nothing to do with size, the south downs vs the Cairngorms, they are different nothing more.

Well South Downs are rolling and mellow so no probs on a 2x or 1x, haven't ridden Cairngorms but I imagine the climbs are steeper and longer. I know you can have a hard steep climb thats reasonably short, and these kind of climbs one after another are when the granny ring comes in handy.

Double post.

Ok, if you're all so tough and manly then why aren't you all spinning out the highest gear on downhills which happens to me??

I feel the lowest gear isn't low enough,

mcc are you thick?
you fella have a fast cadence others however do not. simple really.

+ The 44 ring is only for flying downhill on fireroads and roads. Chill out and freewheel, it is more fun and saves energy.

And is a lot slower for racing - you can't win in an event like Kielder 100 with less than a 42 up front I imagine.

+ If you are winching yourself up a hill in 22/32, walking is probably more efficient

It's slower if you add in the time of mountain and dismounting every time.

+ Having to push a low gear that isn't winching yourself uphill makes you stronger and is more satisfying

Ok, if you're all so tough and manly then why aren't you all spinning out the highest gear on downhills which happens to me??

I feel the lowest gear isn't low enough,

FFS, make your mind up.

Makes perfect sense.

you can't win in an event like Kielder 100 with less than a 42 up front I imagine.

mcc are you thick?

and yet you can win a DH world cup with a 36T

AND... you can also do well in a DH world cup race if you break a chain and simply freewheel down the course, with the steepness of them (Like Cedric Gracia has done). Totally different, like comparing apples with eggs. When do you ever see a 5 mile fire-road section in a DH world cup race course? Never.

mcc are you thick?
you fella have a fast cadence others however do not. simple really.

I was simply asking in my first post who else is switching back.

mcc are you thick?
you fella have a fast cadence others however do not. simple really.

I was simply asking in my first post who else is switching back.

5 mile fire road descents at Keilder? 😆

simply freewheel

I'm with GW on this triple chainsets make very little sense anymore and you can pretty much select a combination of 2 chainrings and a cassette to suit your fitness (or lack there of) or your need to push big gears should you have such a desire....

For my own part at present I find 22/36 with an 11-32 cassette, covers more than enough bases, others experiences may vary but they are not me...

ride what you like but triples are for mugs.... 😀

FFS great friendly thread again :):)

All depends where and what you do.

When I lived in the lakes I was not going to give up a 22t ring.
Very happy with 22+36 - 11-34/36
As for running 32x11-36 I used to spin out far too often in middle ring to make that an option.

I did do 1x9 with 36-11-34 for a year on a 34lb bike i did get stronger but really missed being able to spin.

42 rings on [b][i][u]MY[/u][/i][/b] bikes was the least used. Only wear was from rocks so made sense to get rid.

Now I live somewhere more rolling I can see myself going 1x9/10. But more likely to move somewhere less rolling as it's more fun.

Edit

5 mile fire road descents at Keilder?

simply freewheel
So clueless

Boys boys boys

There's a good thread in here somewhere.

I just did a 8 day mountain stage race on a 26er with triple. I was so exhausted some days I can't imagine hauling myself up those climbs without granny. My pal however did it on a 29er double and was fine. I'm now riding a 29er triple but have a lovely double middleburn staring at me from the shed. Anyone have a link to gear charts that compare 26 and 29er? If Northwind is right on the ratios I'm going double.

Btw the fast guys at Transpyr were all on 29er doubles but were mostly supermen.

I can't imagine hauling myself up those climbs without granny. My pal however did it on a 29er double and was fine.

Mike I'm sure you are making a valid point but honestly I don't have a clue what you are saying.

5 mile fire road descents at Keilder?

I never said descent 🙄 . There is 5 mile long fire-road sections though.

Mcboo, ah just forget it - you post reads like your mate was running a double without a small chainring - hence the perverse comment.

For some reason these 1byX or 2byX or 3byX threads bring out the worst in us!

I have to side with GW and Nikk on this. Based on my own experience, the problem with 2X9 systems is that they lose the wrong ring. Quite why anyone outside of the world cup DH circuit needs anything bigger than a 36t up front is beyond me (and I'm being generous as I don't think anything larger than a 32t is really needed for 99% of the time). For that reason 1x10 is great for me as it drops about a pound and gives me greater drive train security.

You can easily spin up to about 25mph on a 32t fron and 11t rear; granted for long road and fire road descents spinning at 30mph would be hard.

Thing is though, I regularly hit 27-29mph (haven't quite managed 30mph yet) on a 32t front 11t rear and this is over rough-ish ground like the peak. I tend not to worry too much about pedalling and instead focus on trying to keep smooth and carry speed.

That said, I know a few people who have started to go back to 2byX set ups from 1x10 because they do want the lower gear range and that's where the loss is most felt (unless you're riding a lot of road sections). Oddly, given that I am the least fit of our riding group, I'm still happy on 1x10. I managed 4000ft of climbing in the peak last Saturday on it, not at the quickest pace though. I think to be quick uphill for racing, you do need to be able to spin a bit more rather than just grind.

Ok, if you're all so tough and manly then why aren't you all spinning out the highest gear on downhills which happens to me??

Because our downhills are not grass slopes or fire-roads and often do not have sections where multiple seated pedal strokes make a difference or are an option that does not result in pain, and lots of it.

And is a lot slower for racing - you can't win in an event like Kielder 100 with less than a 42 up front I imagine.

You imagine wrong, as Ben Thomas managed just that! Kielder isn't representative of most racing anyway.

I'm with GW, but it's totally personal anyway! I've not used a 22t chainring for 7 years now, just didn't find it much use. I'm reasonably fit, and ride fairly light bikes, so it works for me. I really like the 36t single on my current bike. If I was building a trail bike I'd probably go for a 28/40 double, a 32t single would annoy me as I often ride 15 miles on the road to get to the trails, but I think a bigger single ring would probably have me struggling in places, and I'm not interested in walking up climbs.

I'd never go back to a triple though!

[url= http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3521 ]try a little research...[/url]here & [url= http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches ]here.[/url] then come back and we can all talk like grown ups.

I've gone double as the lowest gear on my triple when I went 10 speed was 22 - 36 which is utterly ridiculous.

ride what you like / suits where you ride / suits your fitness

I went from 3x9 to 2x9 on my mtb, initially with 36/22 chainset, couldn't stand the bigger jump at the front so went to back to 32/22 & love it.

On my road bike I fitted a triple chainset which suits me & my riding very well & I see no advantage at all in either a double or compact setup.

I think it's easy to forget what a huge range of working cadences a cyclist can have. Doing some rough calculations my legs seem to manage 40rpm to 140rpm pretty happily - with 32t 11-36 that equates to 2.8mph to 33mph. If I regularly raced XC I might need more gears than 1x10 but then again, if I regularly raced XC my legs would be more used to hiding hard without breaks for longer periods so maybe 1x10 would work well for that. But longer format XC racing is the only time I've wanted more than 1x10 and I really like it the rest of the time.

i suspect that i should consider a switch to 1x10...

i've found that 26/32 at the front works well for me: i spend most of the time in the 32 ring, using the 26 in 'emergencies' (if i'm tired, if the hill is steep, or both).

Yes, i know there's a massive overlap, but as i've said above, i AM a pathetic weakling, and find a 32/34 just a bit too much when my pathetic scrawny legs are tired, or the hill is steep, or both.

but, 10speed cassettes are even bigger, it might just be enough for even me to manage...

[s](if it works, i could consider a kona honzo 🙂 )[/s]

...29er wheels change the gearing don't they, i'll need to do some maths...

As for climb size, Le Chable to Col de Gentiannes in the Val de Bagnes on a 2x9, in prep for the Grand Raid Cristalp. Is that a big enough climb?
Really depends on the gradient, I'm not familiar with that climb.

its only 2.1km vertical, with a bit of everything, tarmac, fireroad, glacial moraine and snow.

but anyway, i use a 26/40 and 11/34, why i never really used the granny ring anyway, and certainly not the smallest gears so made sense to me to use a slightly bigger inner ring, As for the big ring, unless your doing long road downhills you rarely need a 42/44 big ring. Would i go single? at the moment no, when i ride off road i have a fair amount of road sections and a 30something ring is IMO simply too small for that. But if i was building a pure race bike then i would drop the size of the big ring a bit to make it more versatile offroad.

I'm loving my 2x10 since switching. I'm not a racer or uberfit - I'm the best climber in our riding group though.

38/26 with 11-36 - means I can stay on the big ring 99% of the time but have a bailout for long steep climbs.

Shifting etc is excellent but I do find the 10 speed XT chain really noisy compared to my previous KMC X9L's (sounds like it's not set up properly and is rubbing even though it isn't)

I find on 2x10 I use the front mech a lot as the gears used most, the middly gears, are found at the edge of the small ring and big ring gear spread. this means many more changes require both shifters, and a initial double shift, followed by a corrective rear shift.

That is why the bikes I have built for myself (ie not demo bikes) are 1x10 or single speed.

1x10 is also lighter, cheaper, mechanically more reliable. And as a single speeder it's a bit of a luxury to have gears, other times it's a curse.

Once upon a time we'd laugh at the roadies for having this sort of argument over double vs compact vs triple.

but, 10speed cassettes are even bigger, it might just be enough for even me to manage...

(if it works, i could consider a kona honzo )

...29er wheels change the gearing don't they, i'll need to do some maths...

I survived Big Dog yesterday with 32t 11-36 with legs on the edge of cramp for half the race. I don't think I'd have coped with my old 32t 11-34 1x9 transmission. Riding 32t 11-36 on a 29er you have a fractionally higher bottom gear than with 32t 11-34 on a fat tyred (real 2.2 or typical 2.4) 26er and higher still if you run equal width tyres on 29 and 26.

Does anyone else work on spinning fast? I swear it's easier to get quicker at spinning than stronger at stomping!

I think some of the differences between folks on this thread boil down to whether they race or not. Many trail riders don't really understand the obsessive gear dilemmas xc racers have.

It's a long time since I raced xc and had 3x8, which suited me just fine. I couldn't tell you what the ratios were, nor did I care - they were what came in the bike. Having said that I was always a mid-pack sport rider at best.

I now just trail ride with the occasional DH race: on the trail bike I have 2x9 & on the DH bike I have 1x9.

I simply don't get why everyone jumped on the 10 speed bandwagon so enthusiastically. I'm now on 9 speed because that's what my bike/groupset came with - it wasn't a conscious choice, I just bought what was available. I went 2x9 because I like the clearance a double and bash gives me.

seemingly every other day someone is selling their 9 speed gear setup because they've discovered that 10 speed is n% better. It's just not. Your brain and legs will adapt to whatever work and compromise you're asking them to make by having 1 less gear. It's marketing balls, and if you do some soul searching then you'll agree.

'Gear ratios are variable'

seemingly every other day someone is selling their 9 speed gear setup because they've discovered that 10 speed is n% better. It's just not. Your brain and legs will adapt to whatever work and compromise you're asking them to make by having 1 less gear. It's marketing balls, and if you do some soul searching then you'll agree.

Whilst I do agree I certainly find the 11-36 cassette instrumental in my liking of 1x10. I'd not want the compromise at either end as 1x9 would require.

Aye, I'd agree with njee20 there. TBH if either of the big 2 made a quality 11-36 9 speed cassette, I'd be sticking with that but they decided to make it a 10-speed exclusive 🙁

Yep, agree with that. No specific desire to use 10 speed per se, it just offers the most versatile ratios.

Hi guys,

How about you ride / push up helvellyn / snowdon / cadair idris etc or a lot of the munros - say do it with a heavy pack or on day 3 of a 5 day hut to hut ride - i guess a lot of the 1x N brigade would secretly like a wee 22/ 20 T granny...

I am a fit climber and if i was just doing trail centres or racing i would use 1 x N I am sure - a double 22/32 mostly suits me fine with the 42 serving as a spiky bashguard...

a quick and i mean quick 23 year old i ride with has now got a double set up for when he rides with us... he just cannot push the 34 / 36 T single he uses....

up to the rider / terrain to dictate etc - gears are good !

Yes, it's personal, for the riding you do and your fitness level more than one ring is necessary. No need to get so defensive and comparisons to other riders of any age are pretty meaningless.

How do these threads drag on?!

too many people who know everything njee...

I've got....(whisper it).....
a triple on my road bike.

snowpaul - I wish you could still get 20T granny rings as I hate large cassette sprockets and the excess chain and increased chainslap in the smaller sprockets when descending that comes with running them.

20/36 & 11 -28 8speed cassette would be ideal for me, have no useable cross over gears, be as light as 10speed XT for 20% of the outlay but far more durable/reliable.

How about you ride / push up helvellyn / snowdon / cadair idris etc or a lot of the munros - say do it with a heavy pack or on day 3 of a 5 day hut to hut ride - i guess a lot of the 1x N brigade would secretly like a wee 22/ 20 T granny...
I am a fit climber and if i was just doing trail centres or racing i would use 1 x N I am sure - a double 22/32 mostly suits me fine with the 42 serving as a spiky bashguard...

Much as I'd like to go on big rides like that, I don't because I'm at the opposite end of the country and too short of time. I only race or ride trail centres a few times a year but I'm out twice a week on average. For the riding I do 1x10 works. For the riding you do, it doesn't. We are all individuals!

If you hardly use the 42t I'd get rid of it - when I broke my ankle my plastic bash gave me a pretty bad graze which healed slowly under the cast. I hate to think what the injury would have been like with chainring teeth involved... But it's a personal choice of benefit vs risk.

snowpaul - I wish you could still get 20T granny rings as I hate large cassette sprockets and the excess chain and increased chainslap in the smaller sprockets when descending that comes with running them.

5-arm cranks and you can. Middleburn must do some.

njee20 wrote:

If I was building a trail bike I'd probably go for a 28/40 double, a 32t single would annoy me as I often ride 15 miles on the road to get to the trails,

mrmo wrote:

Would i go single? at the moment no, when i ride off road i have a fair amount of road sections and a 30something ring is IMO simply too small for that. But if i was building a pure race bike then i would drop the size of the big ring a bit to make it more versatile offroad.

Just as a balance, I did a 75 mile road day on my MTB a couple of months ago between Kinlochewe and Ullapool. Wasn't racing, was carrying 20Kg of stuff. Wasn't the fastest 75 miles anyone has done, but the gears were not the thing holding me back. Tagged along with a roadie for a few miles as well, didn't feel under geared following them, even blasting down short hills...

AFAIAA 32x11 can get you to at least 25mph without crazy spinning. If you are doing more than that for longer than 5 minutes on a flat road on a MTB, maybe give Team GB a call 😉

snowpaul wrote:

How about you ride / push up helvellyn / snowdon / cadair idris etc or a lot of the munros - say do it with a heavy pack or on day 3 of a 5 day hut to hut ride - i guess a lot of the 1x N brigade would secretly like a wee 22/ 20 T granny...

If you can't do it in 32x36, chances are a couple smaller granny gears aren't going to make a big difference. I find carrying stuff up steep paths in the highlands, not only the gradient is hard, but also the surface is tricky. The added weight plus all day effort means you are far better and more efficient just walking it, rather than trying to crank and finesse a bike + kit over washed out, boggy, rocky, steep path. Daytrips / half day jaunts are a different thing.