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What am i best going for in your experience?
Riding will be XC on a 29er, local stuff which is forest ST, up and down but no big long climbs, running an 11-36 casette.
Im sure i have a 32 on my full sus 26" so am i best getting a 30t?
If you want broadly the same gearing as on your 26er, then yes. Unless you can find a 29T somewhere.
Or stay with a 32T and HTFU? (or do what i did, get a 32T, and also a 40T rear extender in case you need it, just expands the range slightly)
I heard real men use a 34t oval...
I use a 34 with 36 11 cassette.
Takes a bit of grunt up the steep stuff but it gives you enough top end for faster bits, tarmac etc
30 here for off road, if it's very flat or theres a lot of tarmac between trails go 32
I'd go 30. I've got a 28 on mine at the moment, though only because you can't get a 30 oval on a 104BCD crank. Long term I'll either get some cranks I can run a 30 on, or upgrade to 11 speed 12-42 XT and run a 32 front.
Answers to these questions are always broadly similar. "I ride flat and xc, ##bigring", or "I haul up mountains and ride steep ##smallring".
Oh and I haul up mountains and ride steep
If you're riding somewhere with decent gradients then anything more than a 34 (assuming an 11-36 out back) is going to be hard going for most folk.
Also, the wheel size difference comes into account so if you're running a 32T on your 26" bike then you'll likely need a 30T to be the same equivelant ratios (give or take).
I live and ride in North Wales, so a typical 15mile ride would have anything between 500-900m of climbing. A very fit friend runs a 32 x 11-36 (26") and I know they certainly wouldn't want to change to a 34T. If you have to fit a 34T or 36T as you need more speed for tarmac then it can't be that steep where you ride. I've certainly never ridden down a trail thinking I need a higher gear than 32-36!
Just for balance I ride a 28T with an 11 - 36 around Derbyshire - so very steep, but relatively short hills. I wouldn't want anything lower. Could probably manage a 30T, but on the basis I don't miss the higher end of the range it's nice to have it in the lower end for those very technical rocky climbs where you want a low gear to get up steps and big rocks where you need a quick instant burst. I've not done the sums myself but I had read that a 28T is roughly equivalent to a 31T on a 26er.
Ill get a 30t discussion closed, cheers guys
Unless you can find a 29T somewhere.
ummmmmmm
We had a discussion not long ago one night when out regarding the chain getting out of sync, he just couldnt grasp it at all bless him, concluded on "it could happen, lets just keep our fingers crossed it dont!"