Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I ride trails and long range off-road tours as well as often riding to trailheads. A triple isn’t an impediment off-road and offers speed both on- and off-trails. I have had places where I’ve done 30 mph on dirt roads and I can pedal most of the way to that 30 mph. There are places where I’ve done 15+ mile downhills and being able to pedal down those is far better than having to coast for that same distance.
To be clear, you need the triple to pedal down roads? I get that. However it really isn't a trail if you're able to pedal when going downhill. Except if there's a quick lull in action so to speak. 30mph on our trails would be a death sentence. Most I've ever managed has been 40km/h and that was with snow making gaining speed actually easier.
I seldom see chain drop or chain slap when off-road. Avoiding chain drop is fairly easy. Just set up the derailer properly so that it doesn’t overshift. That’s something I learned how to do about 30 years ago. Chain slap is avoided by upshifting to the middle ring on downhills. That tightens up the chain and keeps the chain from slapping around. Again, something I learned 30 years ago.
You must either be doing something revolutionary no one else has had the foresight to try or you must be using some revolutionary gear because that's not how front or rear mechs work in mountain biking. You can't avoid chain slap by just shifting to the middle ring. Not even the stiffer Shimano shadow rear mechs can avoid chain slap no matter what chainring you use. There are pretty good reasons why downhillers and the more rowdy mountain bikers still used chainstay protectors just a few years back. No need for that anymore with clutch rear mechs. Also on that point adjusting the front derailer doesn't matter when the chain physically lifts off the chainring due to momentum. Again that's one reason why downhillers still to this day use heavy chain guards and pulley guides to avoid just that.
You might wonder why I'm discussing downhillers. The reason is that you don't actually need all that much speed on a hardtail on any trail of even moderate difficulty to face the exact same issues downhillers face with significantly higher speeds on more difficult trails. You ride bumps fast enough your chain is flying off if you're using a double or triple. The beauty of clutch rear mechs is the fact that they don't actually move all that much when they're engaged. That in and on itself pretty much eliminates chain slap but then the narrow wide tooth profiling physically prevents the chain from flying off as the profiling holds the chain in place.
Your statement about narrow wide does point out one of the problems with 1x. You have to do something to avoid chain drops as well. I don’t necessarily see that as a possitive.
I don't understand this statement. I'd get it if using narrow wide or other tooth profiles was a compromise or detriment of some kind. But to my understanding narrow wide doesn't have any negative effects at all. Using chain guide pulleys would add friction so that'd be a compromise.
I don’t know why you think I have a tighter gearing on a mountain bike. I have 11-34 and 11-36 cassettes on my mountain bikes. I wouldn’t call that “narrow” nor “road gearing”.
I use 11-32 on road and 11-36 on my touring bike. I use 10-50 on my mountain bike so I do consider 11-34 to still be quite narrow. I've never understood anything below 11-28 if you don't live in flatlands or if your chainrings aren't particularly small.
I probably have a lower low than you do and a much higher high. I have a range of about 720% from around 15 gear inches to 100 gear inches (1.1 to 8.5 meters development). I have had ample places to use all of those gears on a single ride. I have spun out that 100 gear inches often. I do use my mountain bikes in a very wide range of conditions, however. Single track is nice and fun but there are other places here in Colorado where a mountain bike shines.
I checked and my 28t chainring and 50t rear cog gives a pretty low low gear. Haven't needed lower because a hill that's steep enough to require more will become impossible to climb due to other reasons. The high gear of 28t and 10t is something I have never needed on a trail. Granted I don't live in the more hilly region of my country any more but even if I do face longer stretches of downhills I usually won't have an opportunity to pedal since there's rocks and stuff. I typically have to brake to reduce speed as not to overmatch my suspension rather than try to get even faster.
My point is that I agree that changing chainrings completely changes the character of the bike. Carrying along the rings and having a mechanism for changing those rings on the fly does change the character. I can grind up one side of a hill and fly down the other. I hate to coast more than I have to.
I actually don't mind coasting in places where pedaling is impossible. But I hate collecting pieces of broken chains or fishing the chain from between chainrings or lifting the chain back to the chainrings mid ride even more than coasting.
I’m not sure what you are doing to your chains but I get closer to 5000 km (3500 miles) on 9 speed chains. I have a couple of 10 speed chains that seem to be lasting just fine as well. I don’t keep strict track of my chain wear but I don’t replace them all that often. I did do a mileage check on one 9 speed chain because I know when I had installed it and kept track. It was replaced at just about 3500 miles. 1500 miles of that was done on a mix of dirt roads and paved roads while on tour in the eastern US. It was certainly put through its paces as the hills there are short, steep, and mean. I did a lot of shifts over that 1500 miles and put a lot of stress on the chain.
With SRAM chains you only really need to ride them in perfect conditions and they'll last you 2000 klicks. I've had better luck with other brands. KMC and Shimano both make chains which last significantly longer and the PNY brand my LBS stocks seems to be nigh indestructible. I also have one wipperman that's been on my touring bike for a few years now and no noticeable wear yet. 11 speed chain that. My point was that in our household we have chains from 9 speed to 12 speed and the brand matters more in terms of durability than the speed count of the chains.