as you say, triples are seen less now and thats the line I get from bike store salesguys.

for me, gear is just gear, a tool, if it works fine then Im not opposed to "new stuff" just because its new.

-for me, I"ve always been someone who doesnt cross chain, simply from a "mechanical sympathy" angle, and I keep my drivetrain clean and I figure that these two things mean my drivetrains last longer, and my shifting and such will be smoother and nicer feeling over time due to less wear. For this reason the idea of a double means that there will always be more crosschaining, so life will be harder on a chain and therefore teeth over time, hence the need to change out stuff more often.

Am I wrong here? I can see that on an unloaded bike, its easier to push through a tougher gear, easy to stand and push till you can upshift etc, so maybe a double is less of an issue. I still see it just from common sense that there will be lots of times that the 50 will be too high and the 34 too low--now maybe Im looking at all of this too much from a triple pt of view, ie that a double doesnt crosschain physically as much as a triple, so perhaps my concerns are too much--?? I dunno.

throw in 10 speed chains (or 11) being narrower so therefore perhaps having more longevity issues--again, I dont know from only having 7,8 and 9 experience. I think it is fair to say that 9 speed stuff is still a lot cheaper than 10--but I will admit that in the big scheme of things (like compared to car repairs we have to do) replacing bike parts doesnt happen all that often, not in my case anyway--my drivetrains, brake pads, rims, last a good long time due to all the various factors (keeping stuff clean, Im a low hp rider, I dont drag my brakes all the way down hills etc)

so who knows, maybe its not just that bike companies want to sell more chains and cassettes etc, but that doubles work well compared to triples?

I do know that I dont like chain noise, so keeping a chain straighter is a natural reaction for me, so I cant see how that would change, especially if you dont keep your drivetrain clean, the chain is always going to be crosschained more with a double (Im thinking touring and regular day in day out riding here, not a roadie who keeps his bike super clean all the time)

for me, the added weight is not an issue (again, especially not with a bike with bags on it) and as I mentioned before, my experience with both mtn bike fd and road ones like the Tiagra FD show they are pretty simple to setup properly (Ive installed and or replaced cables on both) and the trim features of the Tiagra fd works perfectly fine, just as its shifting does.

re jumps between shifts, I realize that my 8 speed 11-28 has the same jumps more or less as a 9 speed 11-32 (with the 32 tacked on) so a 10 speed could have similar jumps and still have a nice wide range--but this doesnt change the crosschain issue and or how long the stuff lasts (or availability depending on where you are)--but again, concerning the wear and longevity issue, I just dont know how in real life 10 compares to 9 compares to 8.....

thoughts?