[Closed] tell me about your 2x9 gear ratios

36/22 & 11-32.

what would you like to know?

34 up front easier but a bit slower much bigger than 26 and you will probably struggle to get shifting to work.

Lowest gear probably depends on your hills up in lakes I'm not trading in the 22t for anything!!

Get the odd problem with a lot of chain out where it pops off dropping from 36 to 22, stinger helps

im not running 2x9 at the moment as i'm happy with my 1x9 on 2 different bikes with different ratios but when i was using 2x9 on my race bike i had 28/40 with a 11-32 or 11-34

surly you can walk faster than using 22 and 34?

come to mention it when I did drop from 36 to 22 the chain would drop off sometimes doing a test up and down the road ..I also have a stinger chain device would that help ?

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26/38 11-32

Perfect for everything.

26-38 up front and then 11-32 out back and feels spot on 😀

yes you can but that gets boreing after the first mile, also makes my calves hurt, I like to save the walking till the bike is on my shoulders really.
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ooo snap!

I run 22/36 with and 11 - 34 cassette.

Set up properly you shouldn't get chain drop. Its a good set of ratios to run - just use it as a high and low set of ratios - go onto the granny ring at the bottom of climbs and use gears 1-6 in granny.

28/40 with 11-34.

I ride Brechfa (lots of steep climbs) and South Wales with this combo buy hey I guess it is subjective

i'm liking the sound of 26-38 but will a 38t chainring be a big to hard as on a regular set up I use the 32t for climbing sometimes

Like yo can never be too rich or too skinny you can never have too low a ratio. Afetr all you don't have toi use it but when you have been climbing for an hour then its nice to have a nice low gear

22/36 with 11/34 gives me gears from 2.5 mph to 30 mph. That will do me nicely

I would like to try an 11-34 out back with it as would give you a few more options - could be good for you

how about 26 -36 ????

Haven't read all the other posts but I've just gone to 36/24 with 11-34 cassette. Hardly used the 24t on the first ride but it's nice to have as a get out.

I am getting a bit of rubbing in higher ratios on the 24t though. Needs a bit of fiddling to get things right.

Like yo can never be too rich or too skinny you can never have too low a ratio.

Kills your range though, may end up with gears too far apart or something. Also you'd get smoother shifts from a 26 to a 38 then from a 22 to a 38.

i'm running a 11-32 on the rear, and 26/36 on the front. Can get me up any hill!

That's on a 32lb All mountain bike with DH wheels!

2.5 to 30 mph does me just fine. Plenty of range there

You don't have to shift very often - on a 30+ mile ride in teh hills I will only do a couple of chainring shifts - at the bottom of each big / steep climb only

32/42 with a 11-32 casette does me for everything so far - done selkirk merida, nant-y-arian, hamsterley, glentress...

2.5 to 30 mph does me just fine. Plenty of range there

Not what I meant, sorry. Range was the wrong word. Amount of high end gears or something?

32/42 with a 11-32 casette does me for everything so far - done selkirk merida, nant-y-arian, hamsterley, glentress...

That sounds pretty impressive actually.

Real man - Do you need gears to pedal faster than 30 mph? 36/11 I can spin to above 30 mph - offroad faster than that I am clinging on for dear life not pedalling

If i'm doing more than 25mph off road, i don't like to pedal, as you're never going in a straight line off road! On the road bike 25mph doesn't feel that fast, but on the mtb, wow it's fast!

I was running 26/38 rings,11-32 cassette.

I was never going 38-11, except on road, downhill. There was just no reason off road. If you spin out in that gear off road, you're either a complete lunatic, or riding a surface which is pretty much road and very unexciting, a surface that may aswell not be off road, may aswell take up road biking.

26-32, I could get up any climbs sheffield side of the peaks, including the clough lane climb. With sitting and spinning technique, 26-32 felt a bit hard at times.

Im 1x9 now, 34-11 cassette, 34 tooth ring. I can climb just the same as before, if not better. When i climb, im out the saddle now with the 1x9, much more suited to my BMX routes which my body is accustomed I never find I need a harder gear off road either aswell. I top out readily on road downhills, but never off road. The stuff I like to ride is on the tech end of the scale, you'd have to be gifted to ride flat out.

If I were to go back to double ring, i would go 24/36 rings with a 11-32 cassette.

22/36 with 11-34 is suiting me very well... I can spin out the top of it but usually only on roads or very dull offroad so not too bothered about that really. Any time I'm going fast enough on an interesting bit of trail I'm usually frantically trying to control my speed not pedal

The only other drawback I've found is that sometimes I quite like to mash a big gear rather than spin, and it does reduce the ability to do that a bit. But that's pretty trivial.

Running 44/29 and 11-32. Soon to change to 11-34 as the drop from 3x9 to 2x9 was a bit harder than I expected with those ratios.

26/40 up front and 11/28 out back for XC racing.

22/32 up front, but could run a 34 as the bash ring is a 34t one with 11-34 out back.

Fine for what I ride, hardly use the granny and haven't span out on the highest ratio as I don't tend to descend on fire roads 😉

for me a 42/29 up front and a 12/27 at the rear.

richieokeefe1 - Member
how about 26 -36 ????

Where do you ride?? bit hard to comment sensibly if we don't know!!

Hills?Mountains?Real Mountains?Alps?

What do you want from the setup?
Loose the big ring to stop banging it?
Increase range from a single speed?
Fashion?

27/40 up front and 11-34 at back - nice 🙂

22, 32 front and 11 to 34 rear.

Before I changed to a 29er, my 26" 2x9 was 24/36 and 11-34 which I found pretty spot on - I certainly never had any problem with lack of range except on a couple of occassions on the road but since it's an offroad bike, I didn't mind that.

I certainly can't see myself ever going back to a triple unless it was for a mtb that I'd also use on road a lot.

Real man - Do you need gears to pedal faster than 30 mph?

Not what I meant either. I think its more important to have lots of gears in the high range, say covering 15-25mph sort of speeds. With my set up, I think you get that. With yours, I think you've got more gears covering 2-8mph or something, which I don't feel is important.

Sorry to hijack but what about 2x9/10 on 29ers, how do the ratios change?

I swapped the ratios above for 22/32 on my 29er and it's approximately the same - maybe a fraction too low. IIRC the standard is to make the ratios approx 10% easier.

32/42 with a 11-32 casette does me for everything so far - done selkirk merida, nant-y-arian, hamsterley, glentress...
That sounds pretty impressive actually.

Thanks! I generally ride as fast as possible but I think it forces you to improve your fitness - some climbs have been tough but certainly not un-doable.

i decided to ride 29/42 11-34, first race today and the bloody front mech stuck in the big ring on a mountain TT, not very handy! 🙁

Not detracting from Swalsey's achievements, but look at what singlespeeders ride, or people on '1x' setups.

Don't get why you'd use a road cassette on an mtb either, particularly with doubles, to my mind you're just making things harder for yourself with no discernible advantages! Each to their own.

anto164 - Member
i'm running a 11-32 on the rear, and 26/36 on the front. Can get me up any hill!

Not if you come to Scotland it won't, unless you are absolutely mega fit and are a riding god.

As others said, very dependent on where you ride, but living in the Scottish highlands I would not change my 22/36 and 11/34 unless I go 2x10 in which case it would be 24/38 and 11/36

Hi,

40x28 11-34 SRAM XO with an XT front mech

Makes some of the hills more grind than spin but incentive to get fitter!

Makes bike easier to clean! I run grip shift so no problems with front changes.

Regards

I've been running 22/36 and 11-28 for the last 18 months or so which I realise is a bit limiting but I'm now in a position where I feel that I could very comfortably change to a 1x9 for all of my riding and not really miss any gears..

which is nice..

Sorry to start up an old thread again. 'Holy resurrection, Batman!'

I'm thinking of going for a double and bash setup with a chain guide like a Blackspire Stinger and I'm just wondering why not many people choose to run 24/38T chainrings? I was thinknig of going that way because I drop down to the lowest gear (currently 22/34T) on the steep hills and spin up but I'm being lazy and could really do the same with a 24T chainring. I'd also have a slightly higher top gear for when the club ride route takes a boring fireroad descent (thankfully, not often).

So is there a reason why nobody else runs this ie. clunky shifting, big gaps?

Cheers
Pete

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Ignore the 36 column, that's for a 10 speed low range cassette.

As you can see, a 26 chain ring gives you a gear slightly higher then the second lowest gear with a 22 - which is still stupidly low. And it gives you better shifting and a better spread of gears.

But what's the difference when you stick a 24T chainring in that table? I thought most front mechs can handle a 14T range between each gear?
Would it just be best to go out for a ride and find those steep climbs and ride them in the 22T chainring in the 3rd largest sprocket to recreate the 26T chainring?

Would it just be best to go out for a ride and find those steep climbs and ride them in the 22T chainring in the 3rd largest sprocket to recreate the 26T chainring?

That would give you some idea, yeah.

I think the rule of thumb is no more then 16 teeth difference between chainrings, but the closer they are, the smoother your shifts will be. Some people run 28/40, which sounds nice for racing and flatter areas. Think I'd want a 11-34 for that though.