Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Who decides what is “good enough”? Shimano and SRAM have decided that 2x and 1x are “good enough” and the rest of us just go along. What may be good enough for an elite racer may not be good enough for the average Joe. An elite racer is racing on tracks where they know every twist, turn, rock and root. They know when a hill is coming and when they need to shift for either up or down. Seldom do they every go racing somewhere where than don’t know the terrain.
Compare that to the average Joe or Janet who is traveling from point A to point B but may never have been there in their life. They have no idea what is coming around the next corner and they may not be in the same shape as an elite racer. That goes for uphills and downhills.
Yes, keeping things simple is generally good but complexity has it’s place as well. Cassettes with 11 gears and a cassettes cog from 11 to 50 teeth, the chains, derailers and shifters are themselves all rather complicated.
Who decides? Each and every one of us do by purchasing a given tech or not. I don't think it is anywhere near a slam dunk which choice people should make between 1x and 2x. I don't think 3x is even going completely by the wayside although I see way less argument for it these days.
BTW, not sure I buy the argument that the elite racer wants/needs/benefits from the simplicity more than Joe or Janet does. While neither want to botch a shift the pro can handle the complexity better. I'd argue that Joe and Janet are more likely to want a more relaxed low key ride and that 1x tends in that direction.
Believe it or not I have met folks on long tours who had toured at least half way across the country and really still didn't understand how their 2x systems worked. You could argue (and I'd agree) that they should have been shown how to use them, but a 1x would have been great for them. They are about as far fro pro racers as you can get and still be serious riders.
My good enough is good enough comment really wasn't about simplicity and wasn't really even about this topic other than as a reaction to Happy Feet's comment. In fact if applied to this topic I'd probably use it to say, " good enough is good enough " and I should just ride the bikes I already have foregoing getting a new gravel bike with either 1x or 2x. How long I'll take my own advice on that remains to be seen.