Originally Posted by
alan s
Not really. With a 34T chainring, a 5-tooth jump from 35 to 40 is 14% and a 2-tooth jump from 11 to 13 is 18%. If the steps are too small, you end up shifting constantly, and if too large, you may not have the ideal gear at times. Rohloff Speedhub 14 has a 13.6% step between gears across the entire range, and is regarded as "perfect" by many.
You're getting lost.
With two rings, say 34 and 50, you can have smaller gaps between gears compared to a single ring since the small ring gives you a lower low and the large ring gives a higher high with smaller gaps on the cassette.
50/34........12X30 gives you 50/12 and 34/30 high/low and max 3 tooth jumps.
44 X 12X30 gives you a lower high, higher low with the same jumps. You must increase the jumps in order to match the high and low, thereby making it more difficult to find the right gear for spinning.
The only alternative is to add cogs, thereby adding weight and negating some of the weight savings of a 1X system. It also increases the angle of the chainline adding noise.
I see 1X systems becoming the norm. It's just that the early adopters will have to suffer through the engineering issues for the next 5 to 10 years.