I’m not abandoning my Rohloff, but I’m soon to jump back into the murky world of derailleurs for a full-sus build. I have been ignoring all developments over the last few years though so I’m out of touch.

I like riding up hills nearly as much as I like riding down them, especially slow techy climbs. I can see the advantage of a single chainring, but will it give me a good enough spread of gears with a 10 or even 11 speed cassette? Is it worth going back to double, or even triple chainrings?

Work out your cadence, work out your strength and what you like.

Triple is nearly completely surpassed by a modern double (24/39) so not really worth bothering with.
Single is a gamble but for me worth it just pick your number

Only you know how steep and how fast you want to ride. And how fit you are.

3x is pretty redundant. 1x can be within a tooth or so of a 2x – you just choose to be almost spinning out, or almost getting off for the steep climbs.

I would suggest going 1×10 and then just swopping the front ring to suit you. Its cheap if you don’t waste money on an expensive ring.

I ride a heavy bike in the Chilterns / Surrey hills 1×10 and ride up all the hills. When on the flat I can spin out, but that’s flat as in roads, so Im not bothered.

OOooooh, what are you building?

Either 2 x (like my old SLX stuff) or 1 x. Someone like you won’t need more than a 2 x with a 32 rear. I didn’t use lower than that in the lakes.

If you have stuff lying around then try either out… a 1 x 10 with a range extender is plenty of range and some slightly funny gaps around where you replace the 17 and 15 with the 16.

The 1 x 11 have been experiencing some very short lifespans, making a 1 x 10 with a expander better VFM.

Either way, think about the range you get with the Rohly, the range you’ll get from your various 1 x or 2 x options (easy with a spreadsheet and I can’t send you mine til I get home in a few weeks). Then, how much cheaper is the 1 x, do you want tidy bars for when you add a dropper, blah, blah, etc. 🙂

FWIW with my 1 x 10 I only ever use the bottom gear when I’m ill or long days in big hills. I only ever use my top gear when I’m downhill on non-technical terrain. Have a look at my strava stuff in Worsleys to see how steep a typical ride is 😀 😀

I get up lots more steep big mountain stuff 2×10 than my mate on his 1×11 and if you end up using the dinner plate rear cog a lot the soft alloy is sacrificial…

I’m currently running a 34 t NW hope on the front and 36 t on the back,I can push a fairly big gear up a hill and consider myself to be fitter than average but I still think I need a 40t on the back,I lost my chain all to often with triple plus I never used my granny ring,and with the trails I ride at the moment I never gather enough speed to use a top ring,I thought I would miss the triple but now couldn’t go back to it,hope that helps.

1 x is worth it just because there’s less to go wrong! Especially if you have an E2 type front mech and internally routed cables.

If I was buying new I’d probably go 2×10 simply because it’ll cover most bases. If a bike I wanted came with 3×10 I’d be in no rush to change it.

Had a go on a 1×11 and ran out of gears quickly. I would not go 1x unless the bike it was going on was very focused towards specific rides. Do not buy the ‘less to go wrong’ bit as from my experience the front mech is about as reliable a bit of kit as you’ll find and shifters very rarely go wrong.

from my experience the front mech is about as reliable a bit of kit as you’ll find

Never had an E2 front mech have we?

Or if you have then please teach me the secret to keeping it shifting smoothly!

each to his own but 1×10 on all my bikes (including the commuter). I set mine up for the low gears, and compromise on the higher ones. Usually run 32t NW ring and 11-36 out back. One bike has a 30t. Handles most things although all day epics on a heavy bike would be stretching it.

I have a Rohloff I’ve been using for 8 years and when I decided to get another bike with derailleurs I soon ended up going from triple to single, my poor addled brain which had got so used to the simplicity of the Rohloff just didn’t want to go back to the days of double shifting and actually having to think about what gear I was in. On the single you just change until it won’t change anymore and then just get on with it.
If a single appeals then you could start with a triple, I just ended up keeping the middle ring and taking things away, all I bought was as simple chain guide and some shorter crank bolts.

Never had an E2 front mech have we?

I have not but my mate’s running one without trouble.

I set mine up for the low gears, and compromise on the higher ones.

Exactly, compromise. Like I said, if you ride certain terrain all the time then it would work but if you don’t I can not see why you’d limit yourself to save on kit that doesn’t really go wrong and for a weight saving you’ll hardly notice. Except to follow the current trend. 😉

It’s all a compromise and there is no right or wrong answer. With a double or triple you have issues of the chain jumping between chainrings on rough terrain when you don’t want it to. That’s why people who valued downhill performance have always gone single ring, long before it became trendy. It has since become trendy because the gearing got so wide that you can now ride up and down all day with it, provided you are willing to lose a gear on top and bottom. Only you know how good your fitness is and what you’re willing to compromise.

Singlespeed! 😉

All joking aside.

I have run 2×9 and then 2×10 on my last 2 bikes and found that on the 10 speed bike (which is rigid, 29er and a bit lighter) barring very very steep hills I haven’t used the inner ring.

For my next bike (Surly Krampus) I am going with a 1×10 (30T x 11-36T) drivetrain, which seems like a good idea.

With the 30T front and 36T at the back I should be able to get up most stuff.
Downhill 30X11, will be enough, if I spin out that going down anything remotely interesting, I suspect I’ll be in hang on mode!

I can’t imagine running my bike 1x or 2x. Triple for me. It allows me to ride long road rides, it allows me to climb horrendously steep technical climbs… 40-30-22 is my optimum. To take anything of it would limit my use of the bike I think.

Exactly, compromise

With an E2 front mech one of the limits is set using cable tension. My bike uses internal cable routing involving looping the cable through a pivoting piece of plastic housing. Cable replacements are not fun using it, and try as I might, I cannot get the chainline absolutely perfect with a 2×10 setup at the extremes. It’s as close as it can get, but the adjuster’s cable tension is at the maximum.

Also, with 1×10 you eliminate trim. Sure, the chainline takes fiddling with to get it right, but you’re under no illusions that it’ll be perfect. With 2×10 there’s that cruel hope that if you just fettle a little bit more you’ll have that perfect chainline the bike marketing pitches promised you!

I’ve also been in a situation where I’ve had a stack and binned the front shifter. Money, and time spent replacing it.

I look at 1×10 as a time saving measure. One less thing to fix, one less thing to break. Over time it should mean less time fixing stuff and more time to ride my bike. If 2×10 works for you then that’s cool. I’m just saying that for me there’s definitely a benefit to it.

If 1x doesn’t give you the range you want then you can always use it as a motivator to improve your fitness!

I can’t imagine running my bike 1x or 2x. Triple for me. It allows me to ride long road rides, it allows me to climb horrendously steep technical climbs… 40-30-22 is my optimum. To take anything of it would limit my use of the bike I think

+1 (but prefer 42/32/24)

I can’t imagine running my bike 1x or 2x. Triple for me. It allows me to ride long road rides, it allows me to climb horrendously steep technical climbs… 40-30-22 is my optimum. To take anything of it would limit my use of the bike I think

+1 (but prefer 42/32/24)

+1 more for triple; nice chainlines, simple and reliable.

I have SS MTB and double CX as well; but the true all-rounder is the 3×8 MTB. 32-cassette lasting years, what’s not to like?

With an E2 front mech one of the limits is set using cable tension. My bike uses internal cable routing involving looping the cable through a pivoting piece of plastic housing. Cable replacements are not fun using it, and try as I might, I cannot get the chainline absolutely perfect with a 2×10 setup at the extremes. It’s as close as it can get, but the adjuster’s cable tension is at the maximum.

That sounds more like a poor frame design rather then a problem with the mech to me. I certainly wouldn’t class myself as anything other then bang average or below average when it comes to setting up gears but the last few times I’ve done it it has worked with little adjustment afterwards.

Saying all that, as mentioned 1x will work for some, not for others. If it gives you the range you need you don’t need anything else. My point is that a lot of people seem to be changing then saying they spin out or struggle up some hills. In that case I can’t see why you’d go 1x except to follow the crowd.

*edited. I’m not going single anything.

But I never could see the benefit of 3×10. What in everyday terms is there to gain over, say, 3×8 or 3×9?