And compared to a 3x9 system that many people thought was just fine, the Eagle gives slightly better range, almost as many useful gears, and comparable gear steps.

i.e. typical mountain setup for a 9 speed triple 52/39/30 and 9 speed 11-34 gives you 13 useful non redundant gears and a top gear inch of 120, and a low gear inch of 24

Set up the Eagle with a 44 front chain ring, and you get 12 useful gears, top gear inch of 122, and the same bottom as the 3x9 at 24, and the gear steps are pretty close..


When you consider how many gears in a 2x or 3 x system are redundant, you can cover a wide range without outrageous gear steps on 1x12 with close to comparable gear steps because you get to use all 12 gears in a straight ahead one shift progression with no issues of cross chaining, cross over points and redundant gears.