Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Would a 3X system with a 42 big ring work? It likely would but might work best with a different front derailleur, you can only find out if you buy the chainring.
If you went with the 2X, your front derailleur would likely be moved down the seattube to get the derailleur cage closer to the chainrings. In that case, your front derailleur may or may not work well. I have never set up a bike with a front derailleur up far away from the chainrings, it probably would work just as well as it does now if you did not move it down the seattube after removing the big ring, but it might look odd.
My front derailleur is a Shimano Alivio Triple. It works for both 48/36/26 and 44/32/22 cranksets. I assume it would work with 42/36/26, but would the gap between the big and middle rings be too small? I'm assuming that I have more options in terms of custom gears since the shifting is friction and not indexed. Is this assumption correct?