2×9 on my Pitch, use a stinger chain device and e.13 bash guard in place of the big ring. It’s built up heavy so a spinning gear to grind up stuff really suits it and I never drop a chain. I’m selling the bike soon anyway so no point changing now as it’s all barely worn in.
Shimano XT 3×9 on two bikes here and plenty of spares to carry on for a good while. Works very well, I like the close ratios, chainlines not too twisty, and I like the range of gears on offer. In partiular the top gear (44t I think) for the faster tarmac bits which I think I would miss with other set ups.
Might change the drivetrain on the Stumpjumper to 2×10 when it’s worn out, but given that it only gets ridden about once a year at the moment that’s gonna take a while.
I recently built up another HT and I actively selected to go 3X9 on it. The reasons for this is firstly I love the big ring as i mentioned, I love to go fast! and 2ndly the parts for 3×9 are so much cheaper, new and 2nd hand. Just take a look at the cost of a new x9 chain over x10 or x11, it’s ridiculous. & because everyone is going 1x and x10 x11 you can pick up 2nd hand shifters and mechs for pennies, it’s ace! 3×9 does everything I need it to do!
3×9 here too, I’ll change when I have to (new bike – a few years off) but I’m struggling to see the point of converting to 2x or 1x when I don’t see a big advantage of doing so.
They both say they give the same range but it’s at the cost of available ratios, I can use both thumbs at the same time, I don’t have a dropper so don’t have ‘cluttered bars’ and the weight saving my be of interest to some but I’m really not bothered about a few grams here and there.
Cleaning my 3×10 fs bike, I could only conclude the real reason for 1x systems is cleaning – one less complicated set of shapes to spend hours trying to poke out glued on mud and grime 😉
I could only conclude the real reason for 1x systems is cleaning – one less complicated set of shapes to spend hours trying to poke out glued on mud and grime
