What happened to 3 chainring setups

[tinywheels]

I've been sniffing around gravel bikes, for a while.
I'm unsure what the devil is going on.Why the shift to fewer gears? The hills aren't getting smaller and 11 don't sound like enough cogs to me.
When I was younger and fitter and into mountain biking I needed all the help I could get.
Am I just missing something? Any Gravel riders able to help me out?
cheers

 

[Webbo2]

It’s something do with lots of the gears on double and triple set ups are replicated and you only have 12 or so gears despite have 27 possibilities on 3 x 9.

 

[ColinJ]

I have virtually the same spread of gears on my 1x11 bike as I do on my 3x10 bike. The main issue is the bigger steps between gears. That doesn't bother me for my casual riding style but it probably would if I were riding more seriously.

 

[Fastpedaller]

It’s something do with lots of the gears on double and triple set ups are replicated and you only have 12 or so gears despite have 27 possibilities on 3 x 9.

I agree with your logic, however, with 3x and a close ratio freewheel there will be a similar range of gears with smaller jumps compared to a 1x setup. Large jumps between sprockets aren't something I would want (others may not agree), and the gearchange will undoubtedly be better with small jumps. As always, of course, it's good to have choices, and I can appreciate that a single ring will suit some people.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

New cassettes have a far wider range than the old ones. We can now cover as wide a range of gears as the old triple set ups without the complication of a second derailleur and a stack of chainrings.

at least that’s the theory.

we sell a lot of these ‘one by’ set ups at the shop I work at, on everything from gravel bikes to hybrids and cargo e bikes. They all seem to work well enough and I don’t hear anybody complaining about the good old days. In fact the only ‘two by’ systems I see now are on out lower end stuff, junk really, and road bikes. ( they are a notoriously hard bunch to coax onto a new system )

you might have 27 gears on the old set up but how many were duplicates and how hard was it to get some of those small steps when you needs to shift both derailleurs to get it. Let’s face it, one derailleur is easier for the average joe to use, it’s cheaper to build and sell and simpler to maintain.

 

[Big John]

I haven't got a gravel bike but I do have a few bikes with triple chainrings. I can't remember a time I've ever needed to drop onto the smallest ring. Maybe I don't do enough big hills or proper mountains, who knows? I think a double compact covers all the gears I've ever needed. I ride on roads, not tracks, but I routinely use two different sprockets on the back and two chainrings on the front. I've got a carbon ten speed that I raced on but hardly use these days. My 'go to' bikes are old school....7 speed on the one and 8 on the other (this has a triple). I never feel that I'm missing a gear somewhere. I do wonder why we need such a vast array of gears these days.

 

[a.twiddler]

It was a way of getting a wide range, and spreading the wear out over several chainrings, as well as not having big gaps between gears. I remember how big the gaps were on my 2 X 5 in the early 80s when I was an aspiring cycle tourist on a budget. The 3 X 9 was a much nicer set up.

 

[Ian H]

I hate wide ratios and the resultant gaps between gears.
Silly marketing terms, such as 'gravel', also irritate me.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I hate wide ratios and the resultant gaps between gears.
Silly marketing terms, such as 'gravel', also irritate me.

"29er" is a description that REALLY irritates me (Indeed, I'll avoid adverts for tyres not quoting the ETRTO as well as the other 'popular' descriptions!)

 

[Ian H]

"29er" is a description that REALLY irritates me (Indeed, I'll avoid adverts for tyres not quoting the ETRTO as well as the other 'popular' descriptions!)

The 650B tyres on one of my bikes are described as 27.5", but you'll also find them listed under 26". You still find 700C tyres labelled 28", though that's more of a historical thing.

 

[oxoman]

I have all 3 set ups, they all different and apart from 1 set up work for me. I have a 3x10 105 / ultegra mix 11 to 30 on my commute come road touring bike. Great when fully loaded and going up big hills. 2 x 10 mtb XT 10 to 36 which works for most places I ride. Could probably go 12 or 13 spd l0 to 52 but cba to spend the money. I have 2 gravel bikes both 1x, 1 is 1x10 spd 11 to 40 which is my go to fun bike. The other is 1x 12 sram 10 to 40 on my gravel bikepacking bike, this set up doesn't work so well. Ideally need 10 x 50 but that means major investment to give me better gearing when off road loaded bikepacking. I hate hike a bike as well. TBH might consider replacing the complete bike.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

On similar sized tyres or slightly larger, I've really appreciated the (26/36/48?) triple on my Voodoo Marasa '20 in recent years, having gone from ~80Kg to as heavy as 98Kg back in late winter and having much lower power numbers.

Plenty of rampy inclines both very locally in Midanbury of approx 7-20% and stretches of 7-15% on the bigger hills between Winchester and Petersfield, where having three easier gears than my road bike's 34/34 is very welcome.

 

[chriswoody]

SRAM released their Rival 1, 11 speed groupset back in 2015, the first commercially available groupset aimed squarely at gravel bikes. Given the off road capability of these bikes, the groupset mirrored mountain bike groupsets with a single narrow/wide chainring and a clutched derailleur. They then chose to make the derailleur a medium cage with a maximum capacity of 42 teeth, giving an overall cassette range of just 420% when used with a 10 - 42 cassette. This is a much narrower range than available with the old groupsets based on a triple chainset. Also with the standard 40 tooth chainring, the gearing was biased towards the top end, meaning that you had no real low climbing gears. So overall a bit rubbish.

For gravel racing which seems to be very trendy at the moment, or folk who ride compacted, almost smooth gravel roads, this is undoubtedly fine, but for those of us that like to seek more adventurous off road trails, or even go bikepacking, these gears are far too high for serious off-road use.

It's not just 1x systems though, Shimano do offer a double chainring groupset in their GRX range, which is aimed squarely at gravel bikes as well and as we can see below, it has a 502% range, so already much better than the 1x systems on offer from SRAM. Look closer though at the ratios and we can see again, it’s heavily leaning towards the top end, with the lowest gear being only 23 inches, far too high and this isn’t just Shimano, but an industry wide trend.

Looking across at mountain bike 1x groupsets and we can see SRAM GX Eagle 12 speed, actually has 520% range, much better than the Shimano double chainring set up. Crucially though it actually has a nice low 18 inch gear for serious off road climbing, rough trails and loaded riding. This is with a 34 tooth chainring, however, you do loose top end gearing with this set up. Luckily with a bit of tinkering, there is a way to run this mountain bike set up on your gravel bike and I have done it to my bike. SRAM rival shifter actuating a SRAM GX Eagle derailleur and a wide range 12 speed cassette. I crossed the Alps this summer with this set up on my gravel bike and it was perfect, just as good, if not better than any 2x or 3x system I've used.

So out of the box, up till recently, stock 1x groupsets on gravel bikes have been a bit rubbish to say the least and not up to the task. Recently though Shimano have tried to address this with their latest 12 speed 1x GRX groupset that does have a decent spread of gearing which is actually better than the 2x equivalent.

 

[si_c]

I think options are good, for day rides on gravel I can see a wide range 1x setup could be good, lower weight, less to go wrong. But you'd lose the top end to get a low enough gear as @chriswoody notes above.

Triple setups disappearing is a shame though, I think for touring cyclists having a triple could be really good - lots of range options. That being said a subcompact crankset (46/30) with a wide range rear likely works just as well. Currently running a 48/32 with an 11-34 on my winter bike, which gives tons of range.