djb

re differences between deore etc, Im sure it comes down to weight, and maaaaybe some bearing improvements sealing wise, who knows.
and older vs newer, ie 9 spd vs 10 deore crankset--I suspect there is a subtle diff in ramps or whatever for the slightly narrower 10spd chain, but like I said, I would like to know if in real world use, would an older deore work properly with 10 spd chains?

I suspect yes, but only from my experience using an old 28t ring I kept from about 1991 or something, so 7spd era, and putting it on a 9 spd triple a bunch of years ago (replacing the 30t, not much of a diff but I had it so figured what the heck, along with a cassette change) and it worked fine.
My reasoning is that chain width etc from 7spd to 9 spd would be similar or even more than chain diff between 9 and 10---I also figure that shimano or stores wont give an exact answer because its standard operating procedure to recommend what is official. For sure there are slight diff with a newer deore 48/36/26 compared to a 9 spd one, but I suspect the diff is very small and that it would work without any perceived issues---but yes, I know, I havent tried it so I dont really know.

and to reiterate, one day I may change my Gevenalle shifters to 10 spd and try putting a 10 spd cassette on my bike and see how the 9 spd era XT crankset of 44/32/22 works with a ten spd chain.
There may very well be a super small diff and perhaps over time a 10spd chain could wear the chainrings faster than a 9spd chain--I just dont know, and it might never really be apparent--meaning sometimes in life "officially" things are not recommended, and imperically there is a diff, but it could be only a few percentage of difference, or something that really in the big scheme of things isnt an issue--especially when you get into "shifting quality" etc, where a tenth of a second is the difference, or its easier to shift under load or something that most of us never do anyway....you know what I mean???

so all that to say, who the heck knows.....
let us know if you get any proper info or experiences of people using 9spd era stuff with 10 spd chains......

oh, re your comment,
I've been all over the gearing charts for years. I know exactly what I want for gearing.
what exactly is your preference then?

masi61

“110/74” was just typed into eBay and a bunch of versatile other than Deore/Deore XT branded triple crank options reveal themselves. I notice that there is a Tiagra crank: the FC-4703 that checks off a lot of boxes for a touring cyclist. The prices are decent and the chainring combo is a versatile 50/39/30.

A fun budget option might be to scout for a good deal on just the crankarms from a vintage 110/74 triple crank: whether it be square taper, Octalink, ISIS or Hollowtech 2 bottom brackets. I have been meaning to assemble a power mandrel that I can chuck into a drill and fit with fine grit discs to custom restore scratched cranks that seem to be everywhere. I’ve even thought of refreshing a used set of XTR or SunTour triple cranks that are pretty far gone by prepping with the sanding procedure I’m talking about here then sending the arms to my powder coat person to powder coat them a nice matching or contrasting or complementary color, then locating a new triple chainring set in a nice triple combo for touring such as 53/44/32 chainrings in the 110/110/74 mm BCD spec from whoever makes a quality chainring in that size.

You seem kind kind of locked on to the Deore or Deore XT for your crank option. Is his because you are staying true to Deore XT 9 speed or 10 speed generation front derailleurs and shifters? Just curious. I can’t rattle off the design evolution of the Deore/Deore XT series the way I could perhaps outline Shimano triple road groups from the 9 & 10 speed era - but knowing how methodical Shimano is, all one has to do to enhance their product knowledge here is to cue up some pdf files from Shimano for specifications on these cranks.

Darth Lefty 

I’d be surprised to find out the 9 vs 10 speed triple crankset was any different except for styling. Chainring teeth are 2mm, narrower than any 3/32 inch or even 11/128 inch chain yet made. Cassette teeth are narrower yet. The spacing on doubles changed to allow small/small without skating or phantom upshift, but that’s on short chain stay road bikes with 50/34 rings, no reason for it to on triples.

tyrion

They're the same purpose at different levels of quality/price. Quality/price ranking: XTR, XT, SLX, Deore, Alivio, Acera. All the triples (of last 10 years or so) have the same chainring bolt circle diameter (104mm for big and middle ring, 64mm for small ring) so you can mix and match chainrings to some extent. If you're focused on 10 speed, that means current Deore, older SLX, even older XT, etc. If you're focused on 9 speed, that means current Alivio, older Deore, etc.

Don't know. Probably very similar except current Deore is 10 speed and M591 is 9 speed.