Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
1x is not about gear range, it's about shifting. Front shifting doesn't work as well as rear shifting. Not anyone's brand, not any group. That's why the front shift is the big one and you keep away from it until you have to. Rear shifting just works. 2x is about shifting ratios. Doubles will survive as long as roadies want a corncob in the rear. I pretty much expect triples to disappear, though. The only reason they're surviving on cheaper MTB's is that the Walmart-to-$500 range is a very standard bike with very standard parts and the triple is one of them.
This really makes me sad. I love triples.
I feel like most people just don't understand the triple mindset. Or maybe it just doesn't appeal to them. I use a triple very much the way everyone else uses a 1xN setup, except I've got a couple of aces in the hole. I do almost all of my riding on the middle ring and then use the small ring as a bailout gear and the big ring when I really want to hammer. I choose my cassette for the gear range I want with the middle ring.
The "equivalent" range argument just doesn't hold water when you look at it like this. Suppose I've got a 50/39/26 crankset with an 11-34 cassette. Using just the 39T ring I've got a range from 32 to 100 gear inches, but when I hit that 32 inch gear and I need a little more help, I can drop to the small ring and go as low as 21 inches. And when I top out on the 39x11 gear and want a little more, I can pop up to the big ring and go as high as 128 inches. I've got the simplicity of a one ring setup, but I've got a LOT more range. What kind of cassette is going to give you this range with a 1x? Even 10x50 doesn't get you there, and if it did (say I'm only comparing to a 50/39/30) I'd have fully one third of my cogs used for parts of the range that I rarely use.
Long live the triple!!!
