[bowler1]

I recently changed from a 3x9 to a new bike that had a 2x10 with a 24 tooth small ring, and I believe a 34 big ring.

I am not sold on it.

First, I miss my super low gear I had on my 3x9. Nice to have a super low gear for technical climbs.

At first I liked the 2x10 because I never changed out of my small ring for most rides. I saw that as an advantage.

But now after several rides I am seeing it as a disadvantage. Personally I kind of liked the gear overlap of the 3x9. It allowed me to do a rapid "dump" by shifting into my granny gear when a sudden climb came up.

I find that I am not making efficient use of all of my gear range with the 2x10 set up. I am reluctant to ever shift into the larger gear because I will not have the range to downshift when I need to. It gives me the one or two higher gears I need in some rare instances, but what's the point if I will need to rapidly shift back down to the smaller ring if a hill comes up.

I think that I may end up pulling the parts off and selling them on ebay and then buying 3x9 stuff at a much lower cost.

Matt

 

[dwt]

I recently changed from a 3x9 to a new bike that had a 2x10 with a 24 tooth small ring, and I believe a 34 big ring.

I am not sold on it.

First, I miss my super low gear I had on my 3x9. Nice to have a super low gear for technical climbs.

At first I liked the 2x10 because I never changed out of my small ring for most rides. I saw that as an advantage.

But now after several rides I am seeing it as a disadvantage. Personally I kind of liked the gear overlap of the 3x9. It allowed me to do a rapid "dump" by shifting into my granny gear when a sudden climb came up.

I find that I am not making efficient use of all of my gear range with the 2x10 set up. I am reluctant to ever shift into the larger gear because I will not have the range to downshift when I need to. It gives me the one or two higher gears I need in some rare instances, but what's the point if I will need to rapidly shift back down to the smaller ring if a hill comes up.

I think that I may end up pulling the parts off and sellinggthem on ebay and then buying 3x9 stuff at a much lower cost.

Matt

I ended up swapping the 44t on my triple for a bash guard, keeping the 32 & 22T rings and adjusting the high limit der. screw to stop stop at the 32T. 11-34 cassette. This 2 X 9 combo works perfect for my fitness level on a 29 lbs trail bike.

 

[RazeR1970]

I was all set to replace the Xt 3x10 on my anthem x29er with an XT 2x10 but after reading this thread I am rethinking.

I live in a very hilly area and the 24t granny on the 3x is probably better for me than the 26t on the 2x.

Is there a hug difference between 24 and 26 ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[bowler1]

I find myself wishing for a 24......especially on technical climbs, etc. i get by with the 26 though.

 

[jollybeggar]

We have a wide variety of inclines on our local trails, my buddy has Superfly 29er that came stock with 26/38 gears up front. He was'nt happy with the 26t small ring so he swapped it out for a 24t, now he's loving it. I've never had overlap issues with my 2X9 set up.

Now what about Sram's 1X11, any thoughts?

 

[zerodish]

I dislocated my knee lifting the back of a Subaru brat off the ground. The lower gears came in handy since I was using only one leg for a month or so.

 

[JoePAz]

I have only 1 bike (26" hardtail). It needs to do everything. So I really like my 3x9 set-up. The last ride I did used my small and middle chain rings exclusively, but the ride before this I used all 3 chain rings. Here is how I use my chain rings.

1) Small - For long steep climbs. If I know I griding up a long climb I will put it in the small chain ring and climb away. I will use probalby the largest 4-6 gears in my cassette and just pick the ones that put me a good cadence. There is some overlap between running smaller in the rear and what I can with the middle chain ring, but this allows me to drop 2-3 gears quick in the rear for obsticals or steep ramps. If I ran the climb in my middle chain ring and only my 2 largest rear gears I would have to dump my front for steep climb and that rarely works well. Either it drags due to power or drops too many gears causing its own isues. However small ring gives me plenty of flexibility and responsiveness.

2) Middle ring for light climbs, flat ground or slow descents. Nice to get to the top of a climb and move out of the small ring right into the middle for a descent. Or just use that to roll through mixed terrain. However I max this gear out at 17 mph and in this set-up I get alot of chain slap due to the small rear gear.

3) Big Chain ring for fast descents and or pavement/fire roads. I have found the big chain ring to be pefect for faster descents. 14 to 25 mph and for rolling on pavement between trails. On the desecents using the big ring tightens the chain and clears it from the stays to reduce slap and gives me good power. On the smooth stuff I can use to make good speed.


So overall I have a use for each chain ring and have no desire to give any of them up. I may not use each one on every ride, but since I have only one bike I want to have enough gears to do enjoy it every where.

 

[jrogs]

So from reading this what I have decided is if you have decent 3x9 stuff on your bike it is probably not worth the cost of switching.

 

[Yogii]

I hate shifting,

Get a single speed!

 

[Cormac]

xx1, 11 gears and all the ratios you'd most likely ever need in one tidy package!

 

[bowler1]

2x10

Despite my comments I made earlier in this post, I am starting to like my 2x10 setup. Nothing wrong with 3x9 by any means, but I do kind of like the 2x10.

on the 3x9 I never used the big ring anyway so it was kind of a waste. My 2x10 has smallish chainrings at 24 and 36. I like that setup, and probably would like a 22 granny instead as I really like the low gears.

With my current setup I feel I can takle just about anything on the trail in either chainring if needed. I like the fact that I am not "screwed" if I don't change chainrings at the right time in a trail and then hit some big climb, etc.

Also like the fact there are no crossover gears.

Bash ring is nice for going over logs too.


Matt

 

[druidjaidan]

I recently converted my bike to 2x10 and love it. I can't imagine ever going back. I'm actually trying to buy a new bike and it's one of the more annoying factors; very few companies are selling 2x10 at a reasonable price range.

The problem with gearing discussions is that most people leave out important informaiton like style of riding and location. If you never ride without lift or shuttle service well then your wondering why everyone isn't running 1x10/11 with a chainstay and a bash sandwhich. If you live somewhere where your none of your rides have more than a few hunfred feet of elevation change than you don't understand why someone would want a 22t and are probably seriously considering SS. If you're riding a 26er you don't understand why the hell all these other people want 22t in the front and 36t cog in the back as that sounds like a crazy ratio to you!

I live in the pacific northwest so "we know hills". Most of my "real" rides (as in not after work quick workout rides) have 2-3k feet of climb, with a lot of it front loaded. Long steep climbs and short, steep technical climbs are half the ride. I ride a 29er hardtail. The 29er wheel results in a larger effective gear ratio so I couldn't imagine being without my 22t or at least a 24t granny. A lot of ours trails up here are pretty gnarly too. The 44t big ring found on 3x setups is just simply a liability when going over a log compared to a 36t covered with a bashguard.

So for where I ride (Washington)
What I ride (29er HT)
And how I ride (On stuff where nobody else is on a HT in sight)

22/36 with a 10sp 11-36 cassette is the only option IMO. Make shopping for bikes a lot harder now that I'm in the market for a full suspension...

 

[ColinL]

More than 2 years later, I see the OP was slightly incorrect and 26/39 and 29/42 are both XC gearsets. The 2x10 trail gearsets are 24/38 and 22/36. Not coincidentally you can get integrated bashguards with the trail cranks and not with the XC ones. (You don't climb over logs in an XC race.)

You have to be seriously fast to need 42T on a 29er. I happen to ride a 26" bike, and I still can't spin out the 39x11 on any trail I've ridden. :lol: You would need to sustain >25-28 mph to do so, and anyone that can legitimately do that on flat ground is being paid to ride.

The reason I picked the 26/39 is because of the 26. I have no problems with 26x32 on my local trails and pretty much only use my 39 ring for sustained flat, open stuff.

 

[Dapark71]

I just finished a ride with a buddy who just got a new GF Rumblefish II 29er with a 3X10 drive train. I find myself wondering why the 3X10, this guy usually rides the steepest hills on a 9speed 26er in the middle gear front and rear so he doesn't need a 22/36. I'm captain slow when it comes to climbing and even I can't see the need for such a low gear set up, you just spin without much forward movement. I can understand the 2X10 25X39F 11X36R because you get all the range you need w/o the extra chainring, or for the XC racer crowd the 30X45F. But the 22 chainring on the the 3X10 Shimano just seems to low to be useful. It seems like Sram did it's homework in designing it's 2X10 setup and it seems like Shimano with it's 3X10 is trying to jump on the bandwagon just by adding a 36t cog out back that serves no real purpose when combined with the standard 3 chainring setup.

It was an interesting ride with one guy on a SS 29er (me), one on a 29 "geared 3X9 hardtail, and one on a FS 29" 3X10. The guy on the FS 3X10 never touched the 22X36 low gear and we have some real steep long climbs.

I’ve been riding MTB since 1988 and will die clutching onto my triple crankset. 1x system is so Bush league. I want my granny gear and I want my downhill ring. Tires of people talkin trash about triples when they don’t know sheeeeeaa

 

[Jayem]

I’ve been riding MTB since 1988 and will die clutching onto my triple crankset. 1x system is so Bush league. I want my granny gear and I want my downhill ring. Tires of people talkin trash about triples when they don’t know sheeeeeaa

So you decided to necro-post just to share this?

Not even DHers use "DH rings" anymore. Do you think they are going slower or faster?

 

[noapathy]

So you decided to necro-post just to share this?

Not even DHers use "DH rings" anymore. Do you think they are going slower or faster?

He may just die clutching onto that triple. Remember all the gory wounds people slicing their legs open? 😬 I do think he should start a new thread in the DH forum. They'd be interested for sure.

 

[Jayem]

He may just die clutching onto that triple. Remember all the gory wounds people slicing their legs open? 😬 I do think he should start a new thread in the DH forum. They'd be interested for sure.

Hell, we set course records two weekends ago during a 44 mile race. Fastest times ever. I got 7th. I guess we all don't know what we are doing with our 1x systems. We must be so stupid and we must not know sheeaaa.

 

[ColinL]

Hell, we set course records two weekends ago during a 44 mile race. Fastest times ever. I got 7th. I guess we all don't know what we are doing with our 1x systems. We must be so stupid and we must not know sheeaaa.

8+ years later, I guess I still haven't seen someone pushing a 42T on a 29er. Btw what the heck is your profile pic... a sram rooster? 😆