[Closed] Who still runs a triple up front?

Yep I still have 3x9 (all XT) on my 29er hardtail, for the simple reason that I've not run out of spares for it yet.

Me as I cant get the gearing I want otherwise .Still 9 speed and 26inch as well

Still got a 9-speed triple on the Blur (not that it's used much)
Still got a 10-speed road triple on the Amazon
Just fitted a 9-speed triple that I already had to a new Ragley Marley.

Fatbike and B+ are both doubles.

Dunno what the fuss is about. I can set up and use a front mech but I can see why 1x works for the mechanically inept and for those that can't co-ordinate shifting when it involves two hands.

yup.

unlike many people, i don't get confused by all the buttons and levers and switches cluttering up the bars.

I like triple chainsets and see no reason to ditch them. I've always had one, ever since my first mountain bike and something that serves a purpose doesn't suddenly cease to serve that purpose because something new comes along. I've never personally had a problem with the way a front mech functions. It's basic, sure, but it works. There's the aesthetic consideration too; whatever the technical advantage, I hate the look of the new kit with a tiny chainring and chainring-sized sprockets on the cassette. I'm probably in a minority there but you like what you like.

I don't really get it either. I miss my 3x10 now my new bike only has 2x10.

I've never had the problems with a front mech that seem to be 'resolved' with the trend for 1x setups. Rear mechs are much more troublesome in my experience.

3x10.... very happy with it and the granny ring still gets plenty of use.

me......3 x 10 xt on my tourer and 3 x 9 slx on my mtb.

i shit heavier than the weight saved by going 1 x.

actually I have 1x9 but with 3 different 1's and a clever trigger based shifting mechanism to let me select which 1x I want to use whenever the terrain changes 😉

Me, for the same reasons as you! 3 x 10 on my Kinsesis Sync

Though my new bike is 2 x 11, but only because it's 29+ and a triple won't fit

Me too. Had a go on my friend's Capra 1x11, it was great but it wouldn't go up the really steep stuff that my granny gets me up.

My better half

Yep, along with a quill stem, canti brakes and toe clips.

Hey look it's Joe Murray.

Seems like I am not the only one bucking the trend 🙂 Its not the granny I would miss for riding near me, its the big ring.

I do have another bike thats 1x9 but that is only because I didn't have the parts when building it up to do anything else and I don't like it so thats moving back to a beardy chin stroking single speed.

Me , because new bike came that way.wont be changing till this one wears out.last bike I converted to 1x10 and will probably do it again.

Its not the granny I would miss for riding near me, its the big ring.

+1

I always stripped my big ring out of my chainsets and replaced it with a bash.

Draw full of big rings in my garage as a result. Never saw the needful a big ring.

I am tempted to pop my granny ring and a front mech and shifter back on though as 1-10 change from 2-9 was a mistake IMO

Its not the granny I would miss for riding near me, its the big ring.

The 39 on my double was close enough to a 42 (or 40 that you get these days) was good enough. My 32x10 gets me close to 38x12....
with my 32x42 coming in at about 24x32 (low 2x9 gears)

Amazingly the range is good and not as limited than most people think. Not sure I own a crank that I can fit 3 rings to anymore

Have 1 x 11 on my capra, really like it, can get up pretty much everything i need to in the Alps, done 1000m climbs on it.

Just had to replace the chainset on my soveriegn and was going to go 1 x 11 or 2 x 10 on that but ended up just ordering new chainrings from bikediscount as the outlay for the full drivetrain when nothing was really wrong with it seemed pointless. Trying to save for a holiday at the end of the year to NZ biking, rather do a holiday than have a fancy drivetrain on a bike that is basically just for training.

I ride to and from the hills (or to the train station that'll take me there). 3x just makes more sense in that context. I don't want to be twiddling along any slower than I have to. It might be different if I was only loading the bike in and out of a car at a trail centre. The point of the bike is to expand my options, not limit them.

The point of the bike is to expand my options, not limit them.

I only have triples (apart from the rohloff). Certainly couldn't lose any range off the bottom end, would rarely miss the top gear but it does see a little use.

Out of interest what are your extreme ratios?

Outwith what I'd get with 2/1x setups.

I can see how they'd work fine for some types of riding, but I'm happy enough sticking with 3x9 while my shifters, mechs etc are working well.

Ah ranges with no numbers 😉

Just saying the numbers give you hell of a range that most people seem to underestimate. Happy enough to spin in and out of the trails on mine.

As i said before, a 32/11 gives you 20mph at 70-80 rpm. So 23-24 mph is perfectly pedallable. So why the need for 3x? Likewise, 32/42 is the same gear size as 24/32 (ie 3x9).

So, 1x10 or 11 gives you the same extremes as a typical 1x9 set up, with no overlap, less weight, less maintenance, easier cleaning, less clutter, and it feels intuitive and a very down to earth system, the way bikes should be. More clearance riding over logs too.

Sometimes it's nothing but good to embrace change!

I never really saw the point of 2x as it doesn't let you get rid of anything. 1x might have some advantages in getting rid of a front mech and shifter (albeit with a loss of gear range), although I never seem to have the mysterious problems that some people have with these - the rear mech causes more problems IME. I can also see that 1x is good for manufacturers - less bits means the bike's cheaper to make and you get to sell a (consumable) cassette for the price of a groupset whilst claiming latest and greatest. But I'm sticking with 3x.

I never really saw the point of 2x as it doesn't let you get rid of anything.

Hardly any loss over the years

25% of your gear range. Whether that matters to you is going to be a personal thing and depend on where and how you ride.

Dunno what the fuss is about. I can set up and use a front mech but I can see why 1x works for the mechanically inept and for those that can't co-ordinate shifting when it involves two hands.

Lolz.... 😀

I can shift just fine with a front mech and am perfectly mechanically 'ept'?....thank you.
Still would much rather be without it all though. Google image search chainring injuries for one reason... 🙂

I have no intention of ditching it. I use 1st and I use 27th as well as plenty in between. I had KOM on this section for quote a while and there's no way I'd have got that time with 1x11

[img] [/img]

the advent of 2x and 1x didn't make all my 3x perform worse

so I'm sticking with it and enjoying the cheap maintenance

I've still got two bikes running it. I'm about to transfer the wife's 3x9 onto her new rfx.

Yep I still have 3x9 (all XT) on my 29er hardtail, for the simple reason that I've not run out of spares for it yet.

This. I still have 3x9 on my 2001 and 2006 bikes and will continue to use the system until I run out of spares, partly because it is a minimum of £250 each to replace with 2x10 or 1x11 to same level, and partly because it suits the older frames.

At the current rate of attrition of spares I'll be riding the M960 equiped 2001 hardtail on 3x9 for another 10 years (hopefully I'll still be able to ride in 10 years)

Yep I've still got 3x9 and 3x10..
It works, not worn out or broken so it keeps on going...
If i need to change the chainring and the front mech gets covered with mud I stop, find a special tool called a stick and remove the mud..

On draggy mountain bike tyres the only time you could miss a big ring must be smooth down hills surely?

When I was running 2x the bash ring took some hammering, a big ring would of been ruined. Never missed it, even on road sections.

1x now, and no chain drops since.

The point of the bike is to expand my options, not limit them.

Out of interest what are your extreme ratios?

Outwith what I'd get with 2/1x setups.

Ah ranges with no numbers 😉

We did the numbers the other day on the other thread (and mine was a cut+paste from before)

Give me a 9-56 tooth cassette option, and then I can have the range and ditch the overlaps that aren't really overlaps unless you are clumsy enough to change a front ring and then crank the chain back 5-6 sprockets.

Current 1x11 approximately make me lose 1-2 bottom ratios, lose the big ring ratios entirely, and in the case of XT, lose the fastest ratio of the middle ring. I could nudge that a bit either way but what you gain back at one end you lose at the other.
I use 1st and 27th too, and lots in between.

So I have a 1x9 plus a few bonus lower gears that I can select with a button when I go up. And a few bonus higher gears too, also selectable by a button, for when I go down.

Me.

On my MTB and Road Bike. Although personal pride means that I don't use the granny ring on the Road Bike, although it is nice to know that it is there.

On the road-come-rough stuff bike, yes.

The Cube came with it - still has it, keeping it.
The YT doesn't though!

Yep, 8 speed triple and 9 speed triple. Suits me, as does 26" wheels. 🙂

8,9 & 10 speed & 26' wheels here.
The road bike runs a double.

MTB - hardtail has triple, 8 speed (26")
road - easy compact double

general purpose - currently transferring to a triple as well.

plus a SS MTB and a fixed frankenbike.

3 x 9 (22,32,44, 11-32 cassette) on my 26" Flux (with a Race Face 1/2 bash which solves the apparently 'massive' problem of bent chain rings).

1 x 9 (34, 11-32 cassette) on my 26" Bontrager.

To be honest I do miss the bigger gears on the Bontrager but no doubt I'll end up with a 1 x 11 (or similar) on my next bike.

My FS & HT are both 3x9. Granny ring for the steepest climbs, middle ring for most singletrack, big ring for descents and road sections. I don't understand people who claim front mechs are difficult, that coping with two mechs at once is hard. Do they have trouble with other multi-tasking situations, like walking and breathing at the same time ?

I also don't believe weight saving being a big part of the change to 1x, because weight doesn't seem to be any kind of concern anywhere else nowadays with trail bikes generally being 30lbs or so. My HT with one of those [b]OMG IT'S SO HEAVY[/b] front mechs still comes in under 20lbs because I do care about the weight of everything.

I changed my wife's bike to 2x10 only because a cheap groupset came up and I'd already been planning to upgrade the cheap rubbish that came as stock. She just leaves it on the big ring all the time. In the garage. It never actually gets ridden so any benefits are moot.

Modern road bikes, I've got two 2x10, just because that was current when I got them.

Retro bikes, I've got 3x8, 3x7 and 3x6. I really ought to get properly retro with a 3x5 🙂

Me, no other way of doing 25+ mph without going mental.

My bikes get used both on and off road, sometimes pulling a trailer or carrying bags of shopping, sometimes not. I have no intention of throwing a load of cash on a drive train which will give little or no benefit over what I have now, spinning at 120rpm in order to make decent headway on downhill road sections isn't a good look either imo.

Think of it as a 3x 1x.

3x9 on my xc race bike - for me theres no other way to get the ratios I need..

I still have a triple on my Soul. Don't see any need to change it as it still functions perfectly. I have a double and bash on my Alpine, primarily as I tend to use it in rockier situations; otherwise it would still be triple as well.

overlaps that aren't really overlaps unless you are clumsy enough to change a front ring and then crank the chain back 5-6 sprockets.

+1 its a poor argument used to justify the latest 1X.

Interesting to read the posts about catching and bending/breaking the big ring on rocks and logs. Never, in over 25 years of riding, have I ever once damaged a chainring in this way.

not for a long time.

Never, in over 25 years of riding, have I ever once damaged a chainring in this way.

but surely it's not beyond your imagination to think that this might be an issue for other folk, though.

Personally As soon as I learned that I was carrying more gears than I could use, your carrying 27 on a 3x9 and 30 on the 3x10!! But only something like 14 are unique, and gears that I couldn't actually use on a traditional 3 ring chainring set up (at the extremes), I got rid of it as soon as I could!

#TRIPLE4LYF
Get to keep up in the slipstream of cars on roads downhill in 44-11 #winning

3x10 - Race in the winter on the 32, use the big ring on tarmac and climb long Chilterns climbs in the mud after 50miles in the granny. Weighs a bit more, clatters a bit more but gives me versatility.

One thing people rarely mention is the negative effect of large cadence changes on steep climbs when you're tired. Using the granny and not being right at the top of the cassette allows you to spin and change without leg sapping drops in cadence.

2x11. Highly unfashionable, almost frowned on, but it is so much more versatile for heavily mixed terrain. I enjoy riding/slogging up horrendous stuff and pedalling back down. 1x11 just leaves it a bit short of the desired range for me. I don't get confused by all the levers and wouldn't exactly say the bars are cluttered thanks to ispec etc. Ride what suits you, and ignore the fashion police.

3x9. Why would I replace a load of perfectly functioning kit just to be on trend?

Yep I still have 3x9 (all XT) on my 29er hardtail, for the simple reason that I've not run out of spares for it yet.

Neanderthals, all of you ^. Opposable left thumb is for the dropper.

This is a great thread and a real tonic to the endless narrow minded '1x is the answer to everything, anything else is rubbish and used by stupid heads' threads that pop up daily.

My current bikes are three 3x7, one 3x9 (Wife's) and one 3x10. My main bike is 3x because it came that way.

I rarely use the big ring but have and will again. I have some vouchers hanging about so I might replace the big ring with a bash but this will be because I can get one in Hope blue that will match my other blue Hope bits. Saying that, I've been threatening to do it for a year or so and just have not been bothered.

Neanderthals can only use Opposable left thumb for the dropper.

3 x 10 on my 26'er MTB

So 2011.....

3 x 10 on my Fargo works btilliantly. I moved to 2x on my mountain bikes as I had a tendency to catch my big ring on rocks somewhat regularly. I was never a big user of the big ring so haven't really missed it. 😀

Each to their own though. My Fargo wouldn't be as good if it was a 2 x se up.

chestrockwell - Member
This is a great thread and a real tonic to the endless narrow minded '1x is the answer to everything, anything else is rubbish and used by stupid heads' threads that pop up daily.

Pop up daily in your mind, that would be...
😀

A lot of riders use different setups on their bicycles.I must have missed these threads where anyone can be bothered to scrape the bottom of the annoyance barrel and summon up enough passion about a bicycle drivetrain to actively insult those who don't share their setup. Except maybe a few on this one... 😉

I forgot another good reason not to leave 3x9.

Rapid Rise is the win. 8)

"As i said before, a 32/11 gives you 20mph at 70-80 rpm. So 23-24 mph is perfectly pedallable. So why the need for 3x?"

I like to be still cranking at 35mph hoping to go faster! Still trying to beat my personal record of 50mph off road.

On my Spesh Pitch I have a double with 38t large ring, but 38/11 isn't high enough, i have considered going back to a triple to get higher gears but not gone for it yet as I haven't ridden much recently due to injury.

Ah. It wouldn't be STW if, rather than just saying "Yeah, that's how I have my bike set up" people didn't defend their choices by mocking others.
I don't run more than 1 front ring on my mtb. I don't find I miss the others on the South Downs. I run my dropper where the front shifter used to be as it makes sense.
I do have 2 rings on my road/fire track/whatever drop bar bike as it gives me the gears I need.
I don't give 2 figs what anyone else does, moreover I don't feel the need to belittle them for making their choices or think that their circumstances may be the same as mine.

I've got 3x10 on the Solaris and 3x9 on the 26er Soul.

The Soul trans is shagged and needs replacing. I very, very rarely use the big ring (only if I find myself on tarmac) so wouldn't miss it. My mate just got a Soul275 with 1x11 (on Cy's recommendation mainly) and I'm keen to see how that goes. It's certainly easier to clean! Bearing in mind that I have a boxed XT groupset (bought in a fit 'forward thinking/planning' when Merlin started doing them sub £300 a couple years ago) I suspect that'll go on it next. But then again the 6-7 yo stans 355 hope wheels have also seen better days so it's getting to the stage of working out whether to throw the towel in on it and go 27.5. Which then beggars the question of two hardtails why not a full sus and, oo, that Giant Trance is around the same price as a new Soul....

Sorry, what was the question again?

Ah. It wouldn't be STW if, rather than just saying "Yeah, that's how I have my bike set up" people didn't defend their choices by mocking others.

well quite, as some one* said once on here: "Pick a side and be a dick about it"

*can't remember who

"I don't give 2 figs what anyone else does, moreover I don't feel the need to belittle them for making their choices or think that their circumstances may be the same as mine."

WOW U R AMAZIN.

Went from 3x9, to 3x10 for the clutch mech. Sram X9.

Works beautifully, there's many hills which are just too steep around here and go on for too long, cat 3+4's. Its nice to spin up them with a good cadence and keep the legs fresh for the rest of the ride.

Any road work linking the trails up, the big ring gets used every ride.

Although I can see why people run 2x10, 1x11 etc, some ride trail centres, less elevation, don't ride road, like the simplicity on the bar, less weight etc etc

I like this thread

Nice to see that we are not all sheep

Boardman pro ht 2010 with a triple , have to admit that a 1x10 looks real tidy but id be lost without a 42t .
As for weight saving 'what a load of bull' .

Nice to see that we are not all sheep

Chaps, there's no need to get so upset about your bicycle parts. It was just a light-hearted tease.

3x9 or 3x10 here...

I might have missed something here, was 1x or 2x the brainchild of sram & co? Reason being Shimano were still getting front mechs specced on bikes as their's are betterer?

Pop up daily in your mind, that would be...

A lot of riders use different setups on their bicycles.I must have missed these threads where anyone can be bothered to scrape the bottom of the annoyance barrel and summon up enough passion about a bicycle drivetrain to actively insult those who don't share their setup. Except maybe a few on this one...

Really? I guarantee MikeS is literally dying to post up his interesting chart about gear range for the 350th time this week. 😉

Also interesting to see people who want to defend 1x seeking out a thread about people who still run 3x so they can get upset that people are being mean to them. 😉

Lol its a good chart 🙂 it actually tells you what the numbers are as most people seem to think it's all a bit magic...

1x10 with a range extender on the 29+, 2x10 on the Scandal I use for MTBO - because the 3x9 wore out and I decided to try something different, 3x9 on everything else until it wears out.

Also interesting to see people who want to defend 1x seeking out a thread about people who still run 3x so they can get upset that people are being mean to them.

I wasn't seeking a thread out, or looking to defend anyone, merely doing a bit of light reading about bikes. Just find it interesting that folks quite often belittle others on their choices... 😉

It wasn't necessarily directed at you mate. 😉 😉 😮