3x9 or 2x11 for commuter/touring bike?
 

I'll try to make this short and easy. If you were building a road bike designed for commuting to work/running errands and *possibly* light touring (like 2 panniers' worth), would you run a 3x9 or 2x11 setup?

Caveats:
1) Mostly used parts
2) Shimano (or Microshift equivalent)
3) You are not allowed to answer 1x12. Sorry.

I'm inclined to go for the 3x9 as I think I can cram more teeth on the largest cog if need be (looks like the 2x11 maxes out at 34) but it's a bit harder to find used parts for triples where I live - especially cranksets and brifters. Apparently riding a triple is the equivalent of drinking decaf coffee with soy milk. :P

If you want brifters go 2x11

triples work much better with friction shifting, downtube or bar-ends, which both come in 9spd indexed variety
especially triples with non-standard grannies. I run 53/39/24. An indexed triple wants more like the matched 50/40/30 rings which is pointlessly narrow range for a triple
to find that nice road triple you take it off an old road bike. Roadies scorn them. Lots of nice ones from back in the day. You want one with a 74bcd granny so you can go low.

Other thing, if you do a double setup on a commuter/tourer, i'd do it with a subcompact, like 46/30 or 44/28. Perfectly adequate top end but you will spin that out if you're running fast road tires and going hard. It also can be quite nice just turning a big gear over. But 46x11 is still bigger than 53x13 so yeah.

Thanks! I should mention my 2002 Veloce is a triple and shifts very nicely... but it's running Campy. In true Italian fashion, it can't take anything larger than a 28 in back. Unfortunately it's in storage, 5,000 miles away. :(

My other Bianchi has bar ends with front friction and rear indexing - it's okay if you're touring, not so great for city riding when you want to shift quickly.

My commuter is fixed gear, but...

My camping bike is 2x7 with downtube shifters. 44/24 crank and 11-34 cassette. All the gear I'll ever need. Unless you plan to routinely pedal at 30+ MPH you don't need the super tall gearing that every stock bike comes with.

The subcompact double is fantastic. I use the 44T for everything except steep hills. Very little front shifting. I use it like a 1x but with low gears when I need them. My "road" bike has the same setup but with taller gearing.

This is with 26x2.2" tires, by the way. Adjust gearing for your tire size accordingly.

Further reading: https://www.renehersecycles.com/how-...ur-chainrings/

I think I'd go for 2 x 11. I don't think I'd ever go for a single chain ring on a road bike but otherwise I tend towards the fewer chain rings the better. We have two bikes in our household with a triple: my wife's hybrid, and she barely uses the 'granny' ring, and my mountain bike. The rear derailleur on that is totally trouble free, it's always the front derailleur that gives the trouble - although I admit a mountain bike is a bit of a special case, since your touring bike is unlikely to get caked in mud in the same way. I think the principle still holds, though. Funny, thinking back, I realise that I've never had a triple on a road bike, even back in the days when it was pretty trendy.

Another 2x vote. Works for me at least.

3x9 shimano is my vote. Indexed road triple front shifting is not bad. Since you have access to "vintage" shimano parts I would be looking for Ultegra 6503 6500 GS/105 5503 5500GS/Dura Ace 7703 7700 GS parts which are out there. Setting up the front triple brifter requires the orange set up block or awareness that the initial cable run starting position is with the front derailleur cage midway between the small and middle chainring and then tweaked from there with the adjuster barrel.

9 speed rear cassettes could be spec'd in the MTB category in order to get the low gears you desire, I would think.

Not used parts but consider Gevenalle shifters for either set up. They are friction for front shifting so double or triple are not an issue and are available with rear indexing in 9, 10, 11 and 12-speed formats, both road and MTB. They are as convenient as "brifters", less expensive than most, very durable and much cheaper to upgrade if you, say, want to go from 9 to 10-speed later on. I have them on three bikes, all 3x10, and they work wonderfully.

As to triple cranks, the most recent Shimao good one was the FC-5703 that came 50/39/30 but, having a 74mm bcd granny BCD, it will accept down to a 24T chainring. A 3x9 with 50/39/24 chainrings and a 12x30 cassette will cover a large overall gear range with out big gaps in the gearing.

If you go for a double crank, try to find a gravel or MTB model geared 46/30 or similar and match it with a big big cog like a 34T or more.

In my book the lowest gearing generally wins when touring, but I tend to ride through hilly areas out of choice. Next up is how many and how close together are the mid range gears. How high ended the gears are is never (and I don't like absolutes) a concern of mine. (I think the fastest I've gone with a touring load on is in the upper 40's and that was coasting...)

x3 hits these points better than a wide range x2. Shifting the front isn't an issue for me so a x3 works well for my abilities. Were I to not want to shift the front much I just don't and use the middle or large rings wind direction dependent (as this would pretty much only be on flat sections).

All my drop bar bikes (well, excepting the one IGH equipped one) have 46/36/26 or 44/34/24 cranks with 11-34 or 36 cog sets. And I use the pointy hooded Campy Ergo levers with a Shift Mate. Not mentioned are the brakes and how the levers interact. I run dual pivot calipers or cantis, which play nice with the Ergo cable pull amounts. Andy

3x will give you a better range of gearing with more in-between gears. 2x, depending on what you get can give you just a good a range and might give you acceptable and perfectly comfortable ratios in between.

I have found that when riding with groups I sometimes don't have the ideal in-between ratio to let me have the most comfortable possible RPM for the pace of the group with my 2x. Though there is no guaranty I would have had it with 3x. Though I'd have had a better chance. Since I wasn't riding in a group for an all day trip nor was I traveling with a load it wasn't any big deal. For real touring distances and with a load to pull/carry, that might be a different thing.

If I'm traveling solo, having the perfect in-between gear for the current conditions is not so much of a problem since I can vary my speed to suit me.

3x10 all mtb drivetrain. friction shifting bar ends or down tube. whatever brakes make you happy.

You've identified a key problem with triples, which is that it's getting hard to find parts for them. You can get a lower gear with a triple—the question is can you get a low enough gear with a double? I've got a 2x11 with 46/30 in front. This gives me a low enough gear for my purposes. I like the setup.

As others have said, it all comes down to lowest gear requirements and gaps.

Since one of your caveats is mostly used parts, you’ll have to figure out what used parts you have or can get.

I have not setup a lot of 3x STI shifters, but on the ones I have, I haven’t found an issue with shifting. It does take a bit of technique, which is pretty much lost these days. You’re not building a high performance racing bike.

I would think a 3x with an occasional granny would cover a lot more options than a 2x with a pie plate max cog that is used occasionally.

John

yeah ergos do shift triples nicely. But they aren't indexed really it's micro ratcheting or whatever they call it.
You could steal that crank if you got down there. I took the campy triple for my touring bike off my road bike, rest shimano. Works good, nice cranks and new TA rings for them are very good, and your road bike would be better with a compact, but the new campy triple bbs are expensive, and not very good, which is annoying on a touring bike.
Also consider:
Lance styles. Friction DT front, STI shifter rear

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...45bf507d6.jpeg

l have an all purpose/utility bike, '89 Fuji Ace that I have equipped with a triple with a 9 speed rear12/28. The front is 50/38/28. I live in the flatland of south coastal De., so climbing is not a factor here. My real reasons for the triple are the wind, carrying weight, and I just happen to have that crank set on hand. I have a quite of mix of components and use DT shifters set in friction mode. That makes it about as easy as it can be. I do like having the triple on this bike as I feel it just adds to the utility aspect. I can also use it for traveling without concerns of scratching or marring it in some way. and it allows for usage on a variety of terrains. It maxes out with 32mm tires.

Disclaimer: I'm not a proponent of 1, 2, or 3x drive trains... well maybe not so much 3x now that we have 11s in the more pedestrian lines of groupsets, However, if you're trying to get your money's worth out of your 7, 8, or 9s ass end then maybe a 3x might be required. I think you should go with the simplest drivetrain that checks all your boxes, whatever that may be.

You need to know what you actually need for gearing, what you need for a shortest gear, and longest, as well as how picky you are about how close the ratios between the gears are acceptable to you. And this is all only a you thing and completely opinion based. Play with the calculator and see what you can get away with. Further it would do you well to know what ratios you spend the bulk of your time in. This is only my opinion and what works for me, in the cruising range I like a max difference between cogs to be 13 maybe 14%, also I find anything under 9% a bit of a waste. but at the extremes of the cassette I'm perfectly fine with large gaps. I mean I'll take those close ratios if I don't have to compromise on anything else, but this is a game of figuring out what compromises you can tolerate so... For me 2x drive trains work for me and my riding style. I'm picky about cadence when I'm cruising. When it comes to a steep hill (up or down) I'm much less picky so long as my highest and lowest are enough. If I was riding mountain and was all over the cassette and wanting large ratio changes all the time I'd likely go for a 1x12, but I don't ride that so I don't.

Sorry I completely didn't answer your question but I hope this helps.

Used parts=3X9

If you have a rim brake bike (ie. 130mm drop out spacing), keep in mind that the 11sp hub has worse dishing than the 8-10 sp hub.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d38c3a15e0.gif
Of course, you could choose to stick with the 8-10 sp hub and run an MTB 11sp cassette which fits fine on an 8-10s hub. The point is I don't like the 11speed hub.

I am running a 3x10, 48x45x32 with an 11x36 10 speed rear on my Centurion Pro-Tour. It is now running an Ultegra GS RD and the original FD I built it. I originally built it with drop bars and 5700 brifters. It now has a riser bar and RS-780 shifters and BL780 flat bar brake levers.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b201b12375.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4dc7b635e1.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e2af37fa7f.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...855d560d71.jpg

Older tiagra and 105 triples work perfectly fine, I have a 9 spd triple tiagra bike that works great and the fsa cranks bcd allowed for a relatively easy 30t to 26t granny change, with no adjustments needed to fd to maintain shifting.

the step system in the sti works great, that's not the right term, escapes me right now....trim I think.
with the 50/39/26 it's nice to use in hills and I've toured with a 11-32, four panniers.

As noted though, it's finding parts.

Re a 11sp double, bottom line is that you'll appreciate a low gear of 20 or low 20s anyway.
closer rato cassettes are fun to ride though for all the unloaded riding, so I'd keep this in mind also.

check out pathlesspedalled for double gearing hacks options with brifters.
good luck sorting out options

Looking at a similar situation, I'm leaning toward the triple solution.

It's easier for me to get down in the drops when I'm facing a headwind, which pushes me toward "road" brifters. Microshift has come to the 3x9 rescue there. 9-speed was pretty much the last grouping where it's easy to match big cassettes and little cranks of MTB with a brifter.

Component availability isn't there for much cycling equipment now, so you may have to wait a few weeks or months if you order new Sugino cranks. OTOH, while I'm hard on chains and cassettes, a crank last me somewhere around 25,000 miles (40,000 km) or more, so the price per mile isn't bad. Of course, YMMV.

There's also the 9 speed sora shifters, nice shifters in fact. The microshift stuff seems fine too.

I'd go with 2x11, with GRX being my preferred groupset, then you can use the 46/30 crankset, or even switch to a MTB double crankset for lower gear inches.

I wonder what label was on the first shifters to roll off the current Sora production line. 105? Ultegra?

trickle trickle trickle down indeed (probably some corners cut still)