Which Chainring?

Rankles

Hi guys,

Using a good chain line I generally struggle to get out of
Middle chainring when keeping optimum cadence. Obviously I drop for the climbs and crank up for the descents but I can't help feeling I should be aiming to use my higher chainring more? Or is this normal as single track needs the control
middle ring gives you?

supersonic

What front ratios do you have?

MountainMonster

On my local trails, most singletrack I ride is bang on in the middle of my chainrings, and casette. Rarely ever switch gears when on the flats.

cooldad

I got rid of the big ring (found a Kona bash I couldn't resist on Ebay) and manage fine with 32/22 with 11/36 on the back. Only ever notice I don't have a big ring on odd road links, which isn't very often.
I go fast enough for me. But I do have puny old legs.

Chinley Churner

I've found the 38/27 11-36 set-up I've currently got is spot on.

plugp7

Front 36/22 rear 11/34 (9 speed).
Found I was consciously having to shift to the 44 ring just to use it.
No need for anything different for me except maybe a rear 12/36 10 speed if Sram ever produce an affordable 10 speed gripshift.

Anonymous

If you're sticking with the middle most the time, all is good.

This means you can potentially go for a 1x up front, or consider a 2x. 2x10 more so if you've currently got a 3x9 as the 2x10 can with the right set up give you pretty much the range of the 3x9 but with 2 chainrings up front and less cross over on gear ratios. Just 2 chainrings makes things a bit simpler and I find there are less problems with front mech shifting as the big ring was always a pain for me. You can go for a bigger small ring also with 10 speed which makes the small ring far more useful than just being the granny for the very lowest of gears.

plugp7 wrote:

gripshift.

Should be struck down for even mentioning the word! :P

IBISMojoHDamon

I got fed up with having a granny ring and never using it, so I took it off and ran 32T Middle and a 44T outer with 11T-36T 10spd and it was okay... Then I got fed up with having a big ring and also hardly ever using it so again it was stripped off...

Now I have a 32T for winter with 11T-36T cassette and summer my legs 'man up' and I run 38T with the same cassette. Never looked back. I ride mainly Swinley Forest, Cannock & Forest of Dean... It's amazing how much stronger my legs are as a result... sure I'm slower than my buds running 3 x 10 0r 3 x 9, but we all get to the same place eventually.... don't we?.

plugp7

deadkenny wrote:

plugp7 wrote:

gripshift.

Should be struck down for even mentioning the word! :P

Not starting that argument again. Work fine for me with arthritis in hands.

Rankles

This is really rookie, but when people are talking about racing spec chainrings and ten speed mods are they referring to only having two front chainrings?

And thus four or five accessible gears on each ring?

Anonymous

Don't know about racing spec as I don't race, but 2x10 is two front chainrings.

Gives access to all the gears at the rear, all 10 (in my case 12-36t). The chainlines mean there's little to no issue with cross chaining so you can use them all. The gear ratios, at least with sram's 2x10, are such that there's not much overlap either between the two chainrings. I find I can happily sit in either chainring for quite a while, even in the smaller (not quite a granny at 26t in my case) despite getting onto flatter sections. I tend to shift to the bigger ring for more speed and the down sections as the smaller has less tension so the chain flaps about (I don't have a chain guide at the moment).

http://bikestuffreviews.com/2011/02/23/ ... 10-review/

The Rookie

Rankles wrote:

This is really rookie, but when people are talking about racing spec chainrings and ten speed mods are they referring to only having two front chainrings?

And thus four or five accessible gears on each ring?

9 or 10 speed reefers to the number of gears on the cassette.

I run 2x9, I can run all the rear gears on the larger of my 2 rings (a 32T middle ring) and then the granny ring (22T) gives me 3 eaxtra gears, the other 4/5 I can use (without running a nasty chain angle) are overlaps with what I can get on the 32T.

I intend upping to a 36T at the front (the size of bash I have anyway) to give me an extra gear (effectively) for a little higher top speed.

Simon

WisePranker

I'm looking at converting my Stumpjumper to 2x10 but am unsure about the front mech.
It's currently got a 3x10 set-up with a direct mount front mech. Do I need to buy a 2x10 specific one of would the current 3x10 mech do the job?

Northwind

Your current mech will be fine... You might find a double-specific works a little better, can't speak for 10-speed but the 9-speed SLX double does work better than my XT triple did. But it won't be a problem.

To the OP- ride whatever gears you like (other than horrible crossovers). And if you find yourself not using some, don't worry about it, except maybe to think about not carrying around gears you don't want. All my bikes have double rings on now, IMO it's the best option for most mountain bikers. 3 rings and single ring have their place too but double should be the standard I reckon.

milfredo

I currently run 2 X 9 (22 - 34 and 11 - 32) I would like to run 1 X 10 to simplify things further but I was wondering if it is possible to just purchase the rear only components (mech, cassette and shifter) to acheive this and just run the front ring of choise on my current cranks. I can't see why this isn't possible.

Also what front ring would cover most of my existing range in a 1 x 10 setup?

Cheers,
Will

Anonymous

When I built my c456 I put my 3x Firex crank from my GT on it and used it as a 1x10.

Just needed a single ring on the middle of the 3x, although because I went for a single ring instead of a middle ring (ramped) I found the single wouldn't fit on the middle without filing down the seating for the middle ring on the crank. Could just run a regular middle ring, though the ramping may make it easier to shift off the ring.

In my case I also have a bash on the outer of the 3x and use a 'Jump Stop' on the other side. Though some use a front mech cage to keep it all in place, or you can use a chain guide.

Not sure with a 2x9 crank where the ideal chain line would be. Maybe it's fine to just have a single on the outer and that's all you need.

Anyway, x9 cranks will work fine for x10.