1X10 is it any good and worth it?

[trxrincon]

Well my dad and I do quite a bit of road work tbh so 30 maybe the way to go as I'm normally in the big ring lots on road.

 

[Senri]

I am sure the 2x9/10 would not work for me. I already did most trails on the middle ring, using exactly the full range of the 11-34 cassette. I just took the big and small ring off without noticing! In Italy I often ride on the the big ring on the road (up to the 11 rear) and on the really steep uphills off-road on the small ring (and using the 34 rear). In both cases I wouldn't have any thing better with a 2x setup. Maybe in Begium, were the hills are bit steeper then in Holland, but less the Italy, but to make a bike especially for that.....
Again, it fully depends on the terrain and how safe you want to be. A 3x setup will work everywhere, but if you mostly can do with 1x, if youcan't do it, you can always walk! I have to say you will learn to ride differently, more anticipating. Will I did my local trail a long time ago only on the granny ring, because of lack of power, I can now do a double round on my singlespeed (38/19)!

 

[brocklanders023]

Well my dad and I do quite a bit of road work tbh so 30 maybe the way to go as I'm normally in the big ring lots on road.

Just like me so why limit your choice? I don't use the big ring much but am glad of it when I do. It's not like there's any major benifits dropping the big ring.

 

[trxrincon]

plus it was my original build plan 30 speed slx group, sod it I might just stick with that idea.

 

[gradeAfailure]

It's not like there's any major benifits dropping the big ring.

Ground clearance and lack of a big sharp pointy-toothed thing to skewer your leg if you stack it? They were the reasons I swapped the outer ring for a bash.

 

[P20]

There was a post on stw showing that going 1x9 only loses the lowest two ratios in the granny ring and the top two ratios in the big ring.

 

[Dickyboy]

It's all pretty much horses for courses really, certainly with the new 10 speed cassettes going up to 36t it makes going 1 x 10 that much easier, personally I prefer a 2 x 9 set up for off road as the big ring is pretty much surplus to requirements & the extra ground clearance plus lack of teeth to shred your legs is a worthwhile benefit. Going single ring up front just doesn't have enough worthwhile benefits in my book & the lack of the low gears for hills, mud & other tricky terrain doesn't make much sense, seems more of a trend than of any practical advantage.

There was a post on stw showing that going 1x9 only loses the lowest two ratios in the granny ring and the top two ratios in the big ring.

May not be many ratios lost but 32t cassette x 22t chainwheel = 18" gear, 36t cassette x 32t chainwheel = 23" gear, may not sound much but that is 29% difference in ratios (& a massive 45% difference if you stick with a 32t cassette!), so I'll keep my granny ring thanks.

 

[hamster]

This whole thing gets discovered about every 15 years it seems. :roll:
Remember all those Cannondales with 29T inner doubles?

Now, I guess that with a 10 speed cassette you can go as low as a 3x7 and just as high. The only bad bit will be a nasty jump between rings for a 2x10.

If your bike does touring and also some road work, I would stick to 3x. If you always drive to a trail centre, then it's less necessary. Horses for courses I guess.

 

[Blackstar]

There was a post on stw showing that going 1x9 only loses the lowest two ratios in the granny ring and the top two ratios in the big ring.

A good site to check out for this is Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator.

say you've got a 3x9 steup on a 26" bike
22-32-44 up front and a 11-32 cassette

If you ran it as a 1x9, you'd lose the fastest 3 gears on the big chain ring, and the 3 slowest granny gears on the little one:

 

[Blackstar]

Say you were considering a 1x10 instead..

a 32 up front and a 11-36 10 sp cassette:

You'd lose the slowest 2 gears and fastest 3 on your 3 x 9

there'd be a lot less duplicated gears