Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
As a side conversation- I really love the idea of Jamis as a brand and the Renegade series has been a great option for many years now.
The fact that you can only go 1x in the nicer steel frame is really disappointing. That just excludes a lot of people from even considering the bike. It seems short sighted.
Respectfully, I would disagree. I understand that the 1x granny gear drivetrain is popular right now, but the 2x drivetrain is a nice differentiator. The 1x folks have lots of granny options in steel (Genesis, Niner, Surly, All City, Kona, etc)... I doubt you can name another steel frame 2x with pretty good components and a 46t or larger front chainring for less than $3k (but please do if you can, as I’m shopping).
I think that the very low geared 1x drivetrains will be a short lived fad. Even for the folks who want a half dozen granny gear ratios, I doubt they actually use them all that much. I don’t drive my jeep around in 1st gear, even in the mountains, and I don’t need five additional gears that are almost as low as 1st.
Since the Renegades are sold out and back ordered, lots of folks seem to agree. But if there was a single 46t+ chainring, I’d test ride it.