common guys, you missed the parts about what type of riding, why you made your choice and of course the 'discuss' part. this isn't a survey, i'd like to see some discusion about why your chainring choice suites your needs.

my cross country bikes have three. these get riddin almost exclusivly at pine haven up in michigan. lots of rolling steep hills where i frequently need the granny gear to top out on them and get in the big ring on the way down.

however now i'm building a bike for some urban stuff around chicago, which with a change of tires can be my trail bike on our local trails, maybe even some playtime and dirtjumping at CPX. i'm thinking i would like to do a 1x9 and run a chainguide/bashring setup, but i'm not entirely sure about it.

i, and i think many of us could benifit from some shared experience and discusions on this topic.