This is the bit I don’t understand. Everyone accepts that a front mech is a good idea on a road bike, but a mountain bike has to deal with a much larger variation in gradient and trail conditions, so surely it needs a wider range of gears.

I always find front mechs get clogged with mud and shite much easier on a mtb than on a road bike. Saying that I’ve still managed to seize my road bikes front mech hence why its been 1×9 for ages now.

3×9 here, but there’s little mud round this way, and lots of mountains. Front mechs are pretty much maintenance free – a cable/outer change maybe once a year, and that’s it.

I always find front mechs get clogged with mud and shite much easier on a mtb than on a road bike.

Fair enough. It’s mostly rocks and peat with a fair few hills up here. But if a front mech gets clogged with mud isn’t a rear just as bad? I can see the argument for hub gears in muddy areas.

Nah my rear mech seems to be ok, it’s just the front is a good catcher from crap kicked up by the rear wheel. My chain guide gets it as well on a particularly muddy ride but it’s easier to sort out than a stuck mech! I do have some gear skipping issues when the weather gets a bit damp, hence why I like singlespeed so much.

This is the bit I don’t understand. Everyone accepts that a front mech is a good idea on a road bike, but a mountain bike has to deal with a much larger variation in gradient and trail conditions, so surely it needs a wider range of gears.

It’s not really the gradients and what not though, it’s the speeds you want to be able to pedal at. For a MTB really you want something (say) 5-20mph, above that you’ll be pumping or just freewheeling. On the road you want (say) 8-40mph, so the range needed is far wider. You also don’t want the big jumps on the road as they’re far more noticeable due to the subtle gradient changes.

never really had an issue with mechs and shifters. Even with mud and crap. Ditching the big ring for 39 & bash made sense for me loosing the 24 doesn’t yet.

This is the bit I don’t understand. Everyone accepts that a front mech is a good idea on a road bike, but a mountain bike has to deal with a much larger variation in gradient and trail conditions, so surely it needs a wider range of gears.

Hence the for “where and how I ride” bit 🙄 We all ride in different ways. A front mech is designed to take the chain off one ring and put it on another… and the two/three chainrings are designed to help the front mech achieve this by being cut-away/ramped/pinned/etc to help the chain shift… on a mountain bike being ridden/peddaled hard over rough ground I really don’t want the chain coming off the front chainring at all… ever! I don’t like my knees and bo*&*^ meeting the handlebars and stem. I’m happy to compromise my gearing by having fewer gears for the benefit of never having the chain come off at the front.

So far I’ve yet to find a climb I was able to do with 22 x 34 that I can’t get up the 32×42 on my XX1… Munro’s included.

1×10 on both bikes, 32/11-36 on the full sus, 34/11-36 on the hardtail. Both ridden locally, which is flat but do a fair bit of riding in the peaks and get up most things, what I don’t would have defeated me with a granny as well. I’d love 1×11 but far to spendy at the minute.

I think if I were riding up proper mountains I’d want a granny if XX1 was still to expensive.