FargoRider

I love triples. I don't use the lower (small) front chainring all that often, but when I need it (wind or climbing hills) I'm so glad it's there. I've had the compact 2 chainring crank, and it's nice. If you like to have a wide range of gears, the triple will be better.

52telecaster

i have a 24-38-41 crank and 8 speed 12-34 cassette. what do i think you should do? depends....

Darth Lefty 

Gearing threads are for January! It’s April! Go ride your bikes!

himespau 

I love triples (mine is something like 53-42-30). I spend most of my time in the middle ring and really only shift out of it when I near one or the other ends of my cassette. That 42 with the 12-27 gets me through most of my riding with decent spacing, but sometimes I just need to go a little easier or I catch a tailwind, a steep downhill or am trying to meet a goal and I really like the additional range brought about by the outer or inner cog. I probably could get away with a 46-32 double and maybe something slightly bigger on the rear, but I like do delude myself that one day I'll get back in shape and spend a lot more time on the big ring and would wish I still had it. In reality though, I like coasting on downhills and am not getting back into shape the way I should (or maybe the shape I'm getting into isn't the shape I should be achieving).

martianone

I think the question should be, what gears do you currently use?
Several years ago, before building a commuting bike, i kept track of the gearing I used. Ratios that had 36, 49 and 64 gear inch combos were most frequently used. On one steep hill, used a 30, never needed anything higher than around 75.
So I built up a 1x9 with a 12-36 cassette and 36 chain ring, have now ridden that set up more than 30000 km.

Darth Lefty 

^^^ That would be a winner for me too were it not for the kid seat or trailer

md11mx

I have 52-42-30 12-36 with 700C-40s on my bike and absolutely love it. I'm a elder and we have some fair size hills here.
Cheers,
David
Way up North

cplager

I use a triple, ususally geared like a double with a bail-out: 50/39/24 and 48/38/22.

I don't always use the bail-out gear, but when I do I'm very glad I've got it.

RubeRad

I like your style!

Revracer

I would also agree it is a personal preference. Commuting pushes the limits when climbing as I have ridden my 62 mile round trip on a 53/42 and 13-28 with a backpack but would not do that regularly. When I just have to get there via commuting with bags, I have used both a triple 52/42/30 with a 12-27 and recently had to work over the gearing on a vintage road bike that started as a double 52/42 and 14-28 and that was not enough to be comfortable. I am now at 52/38 and 11-36 that produces plenty of range and frankly I could have done with an 11-32. Someone had pointed out in another thread that if you need more than a 32 the weight gets prohibitive at the cassette/freewheel and indeed when I weighed everything the double is heavier. But, I just don't love triples. I have trained the brain that small ring = climb, middle ring = flat and big ring = descend, but in reality I am using the triple as a double with the bailout like others and I feel that a wide range double is more conducive to my riding style as I can be cruising in the big ring hit a hill and finding that I might have to shift mid hill into the small ring.

Andy_K 

I feel compelled to say that 50-34 cranksets are perfect for commuting if you want to almost always be in the wrong gear. 46-30 is closer to a good choice, but 42-30 or 42-26 would be better.

That's based on my commute, of course. YMMV. My mental model of commuting is that you almost always want a 1xN setup, but occasionally meet situations where that isn't adequate. For commuting, if you run out of gears on the top end it generally doesn't matter. Unless you're being chased down a hill by a gang of thugs on scooters, top end speed is just for fun. Steep hills require a low gear (for some of us, at least) and I don't see the sense in wasting a significant portion of my "normal" range to get that low gear. Hence I want a primary ring that's useful with my whole cassette for normal riding and a bailout gear.

Generally, I achieve the above with a 50-39-30 triple and just don't use the big ring. A 39T ring works well for most riding with just about any cassette from 11-32 to 12-25, and then dropping down to the small ring gives you a nice bail out. If I want to have fun, the big ring is there. It's only recently that double cranksets with commuter friendly options have been commonly available.

I hate 50-34 because 50T is a terrible gear for stop-and-go riding and 34T isn't much of a bailout unless you've got a really big cog on your cassette. I'm currently tolerating 46-30 on my commuter, but 46T isn't really an ideal general purpose gear either and as I said 34T doesn't bail me out everywhere.

Getting back to the OP, 48-36-26 is OK but it's more of an light off-road/touring option. 36T is kind of low for general paved use. 48T is a bit big for stop-and-go.

All of this is, of course, hair splitting. It's a bike. It'll be useable with any gear combination. Some will just be better than others.

hermanchauw

Triple with 22-3X-4X. Better have more gears than less.

aplcr0331

I climb a bit over 1,200 feet on my 18 mile one way commute. 2X11 works just fine, I use an 11-32 cassette so I can spin easily up the Cat 4 climb at the end of the commute.


2X11 with an 11/32 is plenty of gearing.

Andy_K 

That depends on who is riding and what their hills are like. I've only got about 400 feet of climbing on my ride home, but about half of that is in the last half mile where I can choose between a hill that peaks at 20% grade and one that is longer but only gets up to a 14% grade. I can do the 14% side with a 34x28 gear but my knees don't like it. It isn't easy with 34x32, but below that I may as well be walking (which I often do).

tFUnK

Either setup will work; your cassette choice will be more important than trying to figure out whether 2 or 3 chainrings are more suitable. I've ridden triples before and my experience is that for any given ride I'm almost never in the third ring (either big or small, depending on route). For my flat commutes I often wish I had a 1x instead of a double, for simplicity.