Midlifecyclist

I work with a buddy in a shop in Copenhagen. Denmark isn’t know for their mountainous terrain so we a constantly doing 1x conversions. I guess it probably depends on geography but what’s your experience?

smd4

Are you asking if front derailleurs are now obsolete?

They aren’t for me.

mpetry912 

I don't think so. depends on the gear ratio you need and if your bike can take an 11 or 12 speed cassette with a 36 or 42T large cog

/markp

Andrew R Stewart 

Here in the US the perceived need for road bikes with really low gearing had been a small part of the national market. That and that so many riders were/are challenged to learn how to shift the front w/out problems has driven the brands (as they do the marketing), and to a lesser degree the bike shops, to seek other options. The advent of bikes that are ridden on much rougher surfaces (MtB and gravel as example) just further challenged the use of the front der.

I have had a few bike brand guys tell me that it was only a few locations in their markets that demanded that extra low gearing and that the majority of the country (and riders) never used them. The whole marketing focus on racing as the gold standard of what's good just added to the perception of low gearing was unneeded (or even wanted).

So, for me, I am not surprised although disappointed. I'm a small old guy who spins and lives in one of those areas that have really steel hills. I also like to tour with some load.

A number of years ago I began to look for certain ders and control levers so I could have a number of working bikes with similar set ups and also be able to service/replace parts as needed for years to come. Lately I've added cassettes to that list of back stock. Andy (whose flannel shirts have been the height of fashion at least twice in the last 68 years)

wheelreason

No.

Garthr

No. If I lived in Denmark I'd be riding a seven speed threaded freewheel and 2 chainrings, just like I do now in the hills. There's plenty of room for all kinds of bikes, and just because the large corporations decide to no longer make certain parts doesn't mean anyone else can and will. This idea of "keeping up with the times/Jonses", ironically, is old as dirt. It never changes. A zero sum game. All these so called "technological advances" in society yet there's more problems than ever. Let's Go Fishing

70sSanO

My road bike is setup with a triple as I am old. When I was younger I rode the same terrain, fairly hilly, with a 52/42 and a 13-28 freewheel. That was pretty much the standard setup almost 40 years ago.

The gear inches of that old setup was 40 to 105. If I run an 46t chainring with an 11-36 11 speed cassette it has a 34-110 range.

The obvious issue is needing climbing gears with lower gear inches. But my 30 year old self would rather run a 1x. The only issue with todays 1x setup might be being able to dump a cassette quickly if needed.

John

13ollocks

not really - 1x still presents you with the “close ratios or range - pick one” dilemma. Multiple chainrings still gives you the best of both worlds. FDs might be a crude low-tech way of moving a chain, but if set up properly (and it’s not rocket science), they will deliver reliably. Personally, I wouldn’t accept the compromise that 1x incurs, for benefits (lower weight, less complexity, less drag) that are, frankly, more imagined than real

wheelreason

Maybe you haven't heard, you need a $600 Shimano reel with a micro chip in it to catch some bass...

cyccommute 

The problem with bicycling is that the whole of the industry is designed around racing, racers, and their needs. The vast majority of bikes sold aren’t going to be ridden in anything resembling racing and the vast majority are plain jane getting around bikes but the whole industry concentrates on racing. Because of that, bike gearing is designed by idiots who think that a 1-to-1 gear is “low” and that a range of 28” to 132” gearing. That a super tall high that almost no one is going to use regularly and a low that is woefully low if you happen to have any tallish hills around you.

Mountain bikes and gravel bikes are even worse with their 1x systems. Ranges of 17” to 79” have too high a low for serious mountains and too low of a high for those times when you might want to ride to and from a trailhead. The weight savings is questionable as well since a 44 and 34 aluminum ring has been traded for several steel cogs that are much larger.

All of that because some clown at SRAM hated front derailers.

Sierra_rider

Depends on the bike for me. On my road bikes and gravel bike, I'm all about my 2x11s. I'm running compacts with 11-34 cassettes on most of my road bikes and the gravel bike has a 48/31 with cassettes ranging from 11-28 to 11-40, depending on the event I'm doing. I live in the mountains, we have some big climbs, and the 1:1 low ratio is fine on my road bikes...although I am a XC/gravel racer, so I come at it from that perspective and with that sort of fitness.

On my mountain bikes, I am so glad we are in the age of the 1x12...I hated the old bikes with the triples. I started out racing XC on a triple, just as 1x was starting to catch on. I know how to shift and adjust a derailleur, but I had a few instances where a downshift and some harsh bumps would lead to inopportune chain suck. Not to mention that I was constantly busy with shifting.

My next XC bike was a 1x11 and now I've replaced that one with a bike w/ 1x12 with wireless shifting. If there are any gaps in gears, I don't notice them riding off-road. My tallest gear is a 40x10 and does just fine on a wide-open descent. The 50t cog is good enough for a walking pace on climbs. For racing scenarios and even spirited trail riding, the wireless is a nice feature. More specifically, the ability to shift 3 gears with one push of the shifter...makes it handy for when you're descending, but suddenly come across a turn or steep rise.

My longer travel "Enduro" bike has a 1x12 as well, but with a front ring geared for climbing on a 35lb bike with inefficient downhill tires. You can spin it out on a paved downhill, but pavement is not the mission of that bike.

Troul 

Sure.

veganbikes

Yes anything pre-this second would be part of history in this case it is ongoing history. Yes SRAM couldn't really make a great front derailleur according to a lot of folks kind of including SRAM as well as they went hard to 1x but you can still find front derailleurs from most drivetrain manufacturers aside from Pinion and Rohloff which are naturally FD free. 1x has its positives and drawbacks just as 2x and 3x do.

I have bikes in all flavors aside from Pinion (which I would happily own at some point) and they all serve their purposes.

Crankycrank

Go ahead, just try and take my front derailleur "From my cold, dead hands". Unless of course someone invents a 30+ speed, close ratio gearbox then heck yeah, that derailleur is history for me but for now, I live in a full derailleur household.

cyccommute 

This whole “SRAM didn’t make a good front derailer” is a mystery to me. I don’t have any SRAM road stuff but their front derailer for mountain bikes is far better than anything Shimano makes. Even the cheap ones like the X-3 are far better than any of the Shimano cheap front derailers…especially the Tourney line.

And SRAM shifters are far better as well. Much less likely to end up not working because the grease gets gummy.

Andrew R Stewart 

While I agree with most of the above I do take issue with the last sentence. IMO it was that SRAM wasn't able to make a ft der shift as well as Shimano's and it became the market place that hated SRAM ft ders. Andy

veganbikes

It has been pretty common and even SRAM sort of admitted it with their huge push for 1x (they had a whole ad campaign around it) Maybe their mountain stuff is a touch better but even still they don't even make a 2x set up really anymore beyond the older X series stuff. Most things are better than Tourney.

True on the road STI/DoubleTap front but SRAM is a bit newer to that game so they haven't had as much time for gumming up. I have seen other issues with SRAM shifters though but I think anything can fail or have issues as it gets older.

cyccommute 

I can’t recall the guy’s name but Adventure Cycle did an interview about 1x a number of years ago. I commented about it and noted that he said that changing the chainwheel on a 1x completely changes the character of the bicycle. I fully agree with that idea. But what if you carried along the chainrings and had the is nifty little device that switches between those chainrings? It would completely change the character of the bike. Why has no one invented such a system?

Heat88

Is this why my electric bicycle doesn't have a front derailleur? Because it was built with Europe in mind? Or is it because its an electric bicycle so you barely need one gearbox let alone two? Are there any electric bicycles with a front derailleur? My manual bicycle has 2 gear boxes, but I live in flat Florida, so I only need shift gears when I go over a freeway overpass.

cyccommute 

Again, I don’t have experience with SRAM road stuff. I’m going on extensive usage of their mountain equipment. The return spring on all levels of SRAM’s front derailers are far stronger than what Shimano uses. They “clunk” hard on down shifts and I’ve never had a SRAM front just run against the chain when there is a load on the chain like I’ve experienced many, many, many times with Shimano.

For their mountain bike stuff, I’ve never run across a shifter that was gummed up like Shimano shifters get. My XO shifters are 9 speed from around 2000. They have worked flawlessly for more than 20 years. They are also a simpler mechanism. Just this weekend at the co-op, I ran across several (more than 3) Shimano shifters of a similar age that simply wouldn’t shift through all the gears even after flushing and lubrication.

Bill Kapaun

I was recently bequeathed an E bike-
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/explore-eplus-3--2019

With the degree of assist provided, you don't need as many gears.
I can take off on gear 4 or 5 no problem whereas I'd go down to at least 2 without any assist. (you pretty much need level 1 assist to make up for a very heavy bike)
With my severe COPD, 3 miles in a day would wear me out. I did 10 a couple days ago with less distress and fewer used gears.

I re-geared it from an 11-36T 9 speed to a custom 14-30T. I can reach the 20 MPH cutoff with the 14 as I did with the previous 11 or 13T. That will also allow me to downshift a gear vs increasing the assist when the lungs complain.
I didn't need to, because of the assist, but I figure I'll be spreading the wear over 4-5 cogs vs 2-3?

Camilo

I don't understand the issue either.

I have a couple of Sram mechanical (Force and Red 10 sp) and an AXS 12 sp. wireless bike, all 2X. I've never had one bit of problems adjusting and shifting anyof these FDs. Maybe I'm just a clueless insensitive slob when it comes to discerning good from bad in the fine art of front shifting and don't recognize poor shifting when I see it. Or great shifting - because the front shifting on my 9 and 10 speed 2x Shimano bikes (Dura Ace, Ultegra) has always seemed to be the exact shade of carefree shifting as Sram to me.

But I'm just one guy who can't understand why the bad rap.

choddo

Every time I see one of those dinner plate cogs with their insectoid, alien, elongated pulley cage it makes me sick to my stomach. Long live the 2x.

Bill Kapaun

I have low level Shimano triples that shift fine.
The claim for simplicity is for those unwilling or too incompetent to adjust a FDER or thoughtless LEMMINGS.
Triples seemed to have had a pretty good run before they suddenly became "complicated".

zacster

I could see the FD go away if someone would make a 2x internal hub that worked well with derailleur shifting. While I have no problem with FDs myself it does tend to be the part that doesn't work well for the casual rider, and hence are always left in the same position, usually on the small ring, or the middle of a triple.

My prediction is though is that mechanical shifting will go away when some Chinese manufacturer makes an electronic derailleur that is cheaper than any mechanical one. Shimano will race to catch up with a Sora line of Di2. Push button shifters are cheaper to make than mechanical ones for sure, batteries are ubiquitous in everything with USB charging. And once it is electronic, cassette spacing becomes a non-issue, you just use a phone app to get it right. On top of that, there should be a standard protocol to use, maybe an extension of ANT+, which all of the fitness manufacturers and software developers have used, Garmin, Wahoo, TacX, Polar, Zwift, Rouvy, etc... Why create something new when we have something that works. This way any shifter will work with any derailleur, and with any software too. Zwift would be able to auto-shift for you by sending the signal to your derailleur. Or a phone app could too. Everything should just interoperate.

With some AI software, you probably don't even need to configure it yourself. Just set the phone near rear cassette and the software will look and listen for clean shifting and voila! You're done! I guess someone will have to provide the pedal power to keep the chain moving though.