At the moment I am considering moving from Specialized mountain bike to a hybrid. Looking at the specs I am pretty sure what I require however confused of the chain ring, I am use to a 3 gear chain ring but the hybrids I am looking at only have a 2 gear chain set. Please could you let me know of your experience moving from a 3 to a 2.

Any other advice appreciated.

There has been a lot of discussion on the forum over the past few months. Basically it comes down to preference. Ride a couple different choices and make your comparison. I have a cross trail comp with two rings, spouse had an Ariel with three. Two with 10 or 11 rear cogs is lighter and simpler than three rings with 7 cogs.

I like two because when I'm riding asphalt I pick the big one, and on the dirt trails and hills I pick the the small one and forget it. No worries about cross chaining and the ratios are just right and nicely spaced.

The ariel has a smaller granny gear if you like that, but she has a tendency to use the middle ring and live with the 7 ratios. I'm sure you know how to use a 3 ring drivetrain.

Use one of the many calculators to get similar gearing. Many of the "20 speed" double chain ring drives actually cover a similar range to the triple drives. The new 2016 Sirrus line has several bikes with double chainrings that look very nice on the low end as well.

Many thanks for you replies. You have given me something's to think about. I think I've looked at too many bike specs now and have confused myself however I'm 90% sure that I'll get the Specialized Ariel Comp Disc however I'm not too sure what size rims its on

Specialized Trigger Sport, 60TPI, wire bead, BlackBelt protection, 700×38c

my other mountain bike rims are 26inc are the above bigger rims?

sorry for the questions

The above rims would be considered a 29'r or close to it.
So, you basically have 26" vs 29" diameter tires.
EDIT- Actually, about 28"

Yes, the 700c x 38 wheels are larger in diameter than your 26" wheels. For comparison, the BSD (don't worry about what that means...it's an apples-to-apples comparison between the two wheel sizes) of your 26" wheels is 559mm and the 700c wheels are 622mm.

As far as gearing, I would say that the enthusiast end of the biking crowd are definately moving toward a smaller number of chainrings up front. Three used to be the norm for mountain bikes and hybrids and now people are moving to two and even one. Often, as the number of chainrings decrease, the number of cogs in the back increases. For example, 3 x 9 was very common and 2 x 10 is replacing that and now 1 x 11 is coming on strong. You basically have to know your capabilities as a rider vs where you will be riding before you can make a decision on what is appropriate. A bike with 3 chainrings in front will give you all the gear range you'll probably ever need. It's when you start thinking about two or one chainrings that you have do some research and figure out if it will work for you.

EDIT: I checked out the bike you are considering and it's a 2 x 10 and has all the gearing range you should ever need unless you get into climbing major hills. That's also a sweet bike!

That is a sweet lightweight bike, the female geometry twin to my Crosstrail Comp Disc. There is more discussion in this forum about the Crosstrail which should be directly applicable to the Ariel.

One of the threads: https://www.bikeforums.net/hybrid-bic...rs-thread.html

Depends on what sort of riding you're doing. . I have a DS 8.4 (triple), had a CX drop bar ( double) and have a road bike ( double). I live in pretty hilly areas (last night's commute 18km 600 m elevation) and I'll do that on any three of the bikes. You just ride a bit differently. The doubles are harder but then the bikes are lighter. It's kinda hard to explain. With the triple I feel I'll get "lazy" and just dump into the lowest gear and pedal and maybe not the most efficiently.

If you're going to be doing dirty uphill trails though it's a bit different. That's where the lower triple would be useful. "Standard" road riding or easy trail riding you'll adapt easily to the double.