Please educate me; single, double, triple chainset

[kyle888]

I'll leave this here for Muddy Paw

the more i look at these 1x setups the more stupid i think they look.

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: Re:

If you have never been to a trail centre then you should as they can be a lot of fun. Riding bikes is good so why limit where you go?

As for 1x, I never really saw the point and was in no rush to go in that direction. to me the weight saving was negligible and I'd never had a problem setting up a front mech. I'd considered going double and bash on my big modern full suss but since the third chainring worked I'd never got round to it. the thought of limiting my gears for no real benefit seemed like a stupid idea.

However, I have just got a fancy pants new bike that's 1x. It's only SLX so replacement parts don't cost the earth and having taken an interest in the gears I actually used on my 3x10 set up for the last 6 months I think with the correct front ring I can probably cover my normal range. I had no real intention of going 1x but it seems most bikes of interest to me are now being designed to not be front mech compatible so that sorted that.

Having read quite a lot about it I still can't really see why you'd mate a hard tail 1x only but on a full suss it allows more freedom to put the pivots in the best place and solves some of the weaknesses of rear suss. Certainly not the best thing since sliced bread but also worthy of consideration in my opinion.

If you have never been to a trail centre then you should as they can be a lot of fun. Riding bikes is good so why limit where you go?

As for 1x, I never really saw the point and was in no rush to go in that direction. to me the weight saving was negligible and I'd never had a problem setting up a front mech. I'd considered going double and bash on my big modern full suss but since the third chainring worked I'd never got round to it. the thought of limiting my gears for no real benefit seemed like a stupid idea.

However, I have just got a fancy pants new bike that's 1x. It's only SLX so replacement parts don't cost the earth and having taken an interest in the gears I actually used on my 3x10 set up for the last 6 months I think with the correct front ring I can probably cover my normal range. I had no real intention of going 1x but it seems most bikes of interest to me are now being designed to not be front mech compatible so that sorted that.

Having read quite a lot about it I still can't really see why you'd mate a hard tail 1x only but on a full suss it allows more freedom to put the pivots in the best place and solves some of the weaknesses of rear suss. Certainly not the best thing since sliced bread but also worthy of consideration in my opinion.

Well i obviously know riding bikes is fun and alot of people go to trail centres these days because of the fun aspect of it which is fair enough but i prefer the get out and ride where i like approach straight from home without a pre planned route although i might be tempted to try a trail centre at some point in the future if it was an ideal situation for a few of us off here to meet up at some point in the future but i doubt it would be this year if i did ..

My 1st geared bike was a 1x5 Raliegh Ace sports bike which cost me £35 off a friend so that was my 1st time of using a proper geared bike so i couldn't compare it to anything else and was quite happy with that until it was stolen ..

I have a bike frame that i was going to build up as either a SS or a 1x7 just as a hack bike but i've got enough bits now to build it up as a 3x7 so it looks like that will be the route i go down ..

Well if your happy with the gear ratio's on your 1x bike when you've sorted the chain ring then fair enough and i'd just recently come to realise myself that bikes were heading down the 1x route which seems to be what alot of cyclists are after these days and probably why manufacturers are now doing it to appeal to them .

Well your logic regards making full suspension bikes 1x to help with the design of the rear suspension makes pretty good sense but i should imagine that idea is already in the manufacturers plans for future bike designs but wether it is planned or not it is certainly a worthy idea ...

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Don't get me wrong, I'm no huge fan of 1x, far from it but that's where we're at.

The new Orange 4, 5 and Alpine 6 have already taken advantage and shifted the pivot to where the front mech was. They've also been able to widen the swing arm which improves stiffness.

I'll report back as to whether 11 gears is enough. Not entirely convinced myself but we'll see.

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: Re:

Don't get me wrong, I'm no huge fan of 1x, far from it but that's where we're at.

The new Orange 4, 5 and Alpine 6 have already taken advantage and shifted the pivot to where the front mech was. They've also been able to widen the swing arm which improves stiffness.

I'll report back as to whether 11 gears is enough. Not entirely convinced myself but we'll see.

I already got the feeling you weren't a big fan of 1x gearing and where it seems to be heading with the manufacturers .

I had no idea about the changes that had already been done to the Orange 4,5 and Alpine 6 but it does make good sense as you'd already pointed out earlier the advantage of 1x on a full suss and i can only assume other manufacturers are doing the same ..

I will eagerly await your feed back later on the 11 speed set up ..

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Still can't see why they want to limit hard tails to 1x though. People go on about making a compact rear end but Alpinestars managed that 25 years ago with a triple chainset! :roll:

 

[Muddy paw]

When you think about it going down the 1x route is actually going back to basics as that's where geared bikes started from although it would of been road bikes originally with a 1x3 setup if i remember correctly from what i'd read in the past ..

But no not every body wants a 1x setup and a compact rear setup well that's just a single gear for certain ..

 

[xxnick1975]

Re:

im going to build my new bike 1 x 11. i think it is the perfect mix now actually. 11 different progessive gears. low enough low gear. very easy shifting and no trimming issues. cant wait

 

[legrandefromage]

Indexed DNP Epoch thumbies, yes, an indexed front thumb shifter with snappy shifting and not a single trim issue.

The 'newest' component is a ten year old TA chainring

 

[Adam_S]

the more i look at these 1x setups the more stupid i think they look.

The ickle bitty chainring at the front does look a bit weird alright, but losing the weight (and expense) of the front mech and shifter is a bit of a bonus IMO.

I'm actually taking the plunge with a bike I'm building up at the moment and going 1x11. If you look at the ratios, with a 32t chainring you're only losing out on a couple of gears at the top compared to a 22/32/42 with an 11-28 cassette so I reckon it's worth a go.

 

[Adam_S]

Cycling is a terrible business model. With minimum of maintenance a bicycle can last decades - that is terrible for share holders and dividends

You're not wrong. What I think it boils down to is that back in the day when mountain biking was first invented, there was real, genuine progress being made in the evolution of bikes and that drove a fairly frantic update cycle. Compare a 1995 hardtail with a 1990 one, for example. I'd say by about the late 1990's traditional hardtails were pretty much maxed out and the bike industry started looking for the Next Big Thing. Full suspension filled that gap for a while, but if you compare a top of the line full boinger from, say, 2005 and 2015, is there really that much difference? There's certainly a lot less than between a 2005 and a 1995 full suss bike.

So to keep itself going, mountain biking seems to be constantly having to re-invent itself. See 29" wheels, 27.5" wheels, fatbikes and all the rest.