2×10 or 3×10 ?

Looking at going 2×10 or 3×10 would like to go 2×10 XT M785 will I lose out much when compared to climbing in the granny ring on my current 3×9 XT setup

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Not so much, I can’t say I’ve noticed.
I’ve been using a double for a while now with 9 speed, but it was limited at the top end. 10 speed adds enough not to bother with the triple.

with the addition of 10 speed I can’t see the need for a triple on a mountain bike and to a certain extent, having converted all mine to 2x now, I can’t see the point in a triple full stop. There are a number of benefits over a triple set up as well; weight, ground clearence, ease of set up, fewer rings to replace, better chainline etc..

There is a lot of duplication of gears with a triple and a 38/26 chanring combo with an 11-36 cassette pretty much covers the most usable gears. Yes you will lose a little bit of top and bottom end but be honest, how often do you ride 44-11 or 22-32/34?

Based on gear size, a 22-32 gear gives you an 18in gear and a 26-36 gives you 19in or the same as a 22-30.

I use 22-32 quite a lot on my current set up seems to come in handy for places like Hebden Bridge, Widdop and the Peaks etc. have never run 22-30 doesn’t sound like much difference on paper

Never looked back since converting both my bikes to doubles up front.
One is 2×9 the other is 2×10 both work really well in most environments of MTB with 22/36 chain rings and 11-34 on the back. Try it and if you don’t like it just convert it back to a triple.

Having just changed over from 3×9 to 2×10 using a 38/26 front + 11-36 rear set up I really can’t see why anyone buying a new group would go with 3×10 as 2×10 covers almost the same range.

It does away with loads of redundant gears and as said the 26/36 combo is pretty much the same as 22/32.

Have a search for previous threads (many of which I’ve replied to, so have a look through my history), but basically you would lose out on very little in terms of range.

26/36 would be your lowest gear with a 2×10, which is only a very small amount taller than 22/32 which is probably your lowest gear on your current 9spd setup. You wouldn’t really notice it. If you went 3×10, you would have 24/36 as your lowest gear, which is marginally lower, but do you really need that low a gear?

At the top end, 38/11 would be your tallest gear as opposed to 42/11. In reality, you would lose out very little again, as 38/11 is still taller than 42/13 (big ring, 9th cog in a 3×10 setup) so you’re losing a very small amount.

In reality the difference is that you get less doubling up of the ratios, and more useful ratios overall. You won’t have the conventional 32T middle ring that most people have become used to, which confuses a lot of people, but in reality you lose maybe half a ratio maximum at either end of the scale (perfectly acceptable IMO) and you gain simplicity and lose some weight.

Or go 1×10, you only lose a couple of ratios either end of the spectrum (still manageable for a lot of people) and it’s sooooo much simpler!

Thanks for your help

It sounds like going with the 38/26 upfront with 11/36 cassette will only make a very small amount of difference and give me the benefit of dropping the granny, I’ll give it a ago

Forgot to ask will I still be able to use my existing Hope external bottom bracket its been on 2 years and the bearings are still going strong !

xtr triple with 11/36 as well here! I use the middle ring most of the time and can climb all sorts in the middle ring with the 36 out back. Then when you are tired at the end of the ride you can still drop into the granny and have an awesome “climb anything” range at your disposal.

Pretty small weight difference and more options out on the trail.

Having said that, if I was building something for trail centres or a weight weenie race bike, I’d look harder at a 2×10.

Weight advantage of most 2 x 10 chainsets over their 3 x 10 counterparts is usually 50g,so the weight advantage is often over stated.Then if you go for 36T cassette instead of a 32 on the back you gain most of that back.

As for wear,assuming you use the 3 frot rings (and dont leave it in the middle ring)wont it be spread over 3 rings rather than 2? Granny rings rarely wear out…….. 😉

Can see a bigger advantage going to 1 x 10 where you lose a shifter and a mech and a whole load more weight,and gain simplicity,but 2 x 10 isn`t quite as clear cut over 3 x 10 for me apart from less front changing.

Been using 2×10 38/26 11-36 on my new build and really don’t feel as though I’ve lost any gears in comparison to my triple set up. What I do find is that I have more useable gears and don’t have to worry about using the extremes for chain line concerns. Find myself in the big ring quite a lot just shifting up and down the cassette and only using the 26t front ring when it’s getting steep. Would never go back to a triple apart from if I was going touring round the alps with 10kg of kit strapped to a cyclo cross bike a la Chipps!

Jolly GG I’ve worn a number of granny rings out might be something to do with living in the North

Would probably just go 3 x 10 but then it would be adding weight also been out on a demo bike recently with 3 x 10 and seemed to be having to change gear more than I do at the moment, quite fancy dropping the granny ring and the problems with the front mech setup and chain jam in the frame, 1 x 10 sounds scary !