After years of riding a 48-38-24 triple and realizing that I almost never use the 48t outer ring, I've decided to replace my crankset with a mountain double. The choices are 38-24 or 34-24, paired with an 11-34 cassette. I'm inclined to stick with 38-24 but I can get a 34-24 crankset at a great deal. Anyone think the 34 chainring + 11 cassette high gear would be too slow? That's about 36km/h or 22 mph at 90rpm. I almost never ride that fast on the flat while touring, but it may be helpful to have a higher gear for long downhills. Thoughts?

What is YOUR gearing setup and how do you feel about it?

Why not keep your existing crankset and take off the big ring to put on a bashguard instead?

I like bigger rings than you do, so what my setup is does not really matter here.

The reason is that my middle chaining is almost worn out, and a 130 BCD 38T chainring made by TA costs $65 to replace. This is half the cost of a new crankset. Furthermore I anticipate my inner chainring will reach end of its life soon as well. At this point I might as well change the whole thing and save the weight.

I sometimes tour while towing my dog in a trailer, so the low gears are absolute required.

I am Using Shimano Deore Crankset 104/64mm bcd 22-32-42t 9Speed

I like having a triple so that is unlikely to change however is what I am running Sugino Alpina 2 Triple 24/36/48 with a SRAM PG-990 cassette: 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34 but that will likely change to a 12T cog in instead of the 11 just to try it out.

If you are using your 38/24 quite a bit and liking it I would probably stick with that. Unless you feel your 38 is too big I wouldn't change that too much or go with a 36/24 and be in the middle. My gearing might not work for you but if you have something you like stay with it and if you are feeling you need more or less try something new.

I use a Shimano Deore hollowtech 2 m590 crankset with 44-32-22 and a 11-34 cassette.

Most of the time when riding unloaded I'm on the 44 but loaded I'd wager I'll spend a lot more time on the 32. It's nice to have a backup high ear for those fast downhills.

The issue I see with doubles is that they're more expensive than the Shimano triple I have.

48-38-26
perfect for how/where I ride. I use the 38 a lot, but the 48 comes in handy on hills(going down) that transition to flat road. I have this setup on 2 bikes. A 7 speed and 9 speed. The cassettes are both 11-32.

I have 1x11, 2x11 and 3x9 drivetrains. I feel great about all of them.

44/32/22, 11-28, 9 speed

I like having close gears

Also 2x10, and feel the same about it, as well.

11-32 / 30-46

Van, 44-32-22 X 11-30 8S on the primary touring bike and 42-34-24 X 11-28 7S on the back-up / beater. I ride mostly flat land with wind so fairly close ratios are actually more important to me than overall range. Anyway the 34 X 11 combo is still around 84 GI and maybe all that you want.

Brad

SRAM Dual Drive with 11-36T cogset and 52T single ring...on 20" (406) wheels. 20-119 gear-" on tap.

34/50 on a Schlumpf Cargo drive BB 40/11 cassette

Gear inch range on 700c 9"-123"

Gadgets

On CrossCheck Sugino triple with bash guard on outer ring, 44/30 with 12-32 8spd.
Surly LHT w 26" wheels 24/36/46 with 12/28 8 spd

thinking of going 9spd but no hurry.

Currently 52/38 up front and 13-28 freewheel in the back on my mildly retro modded PX10.

New Mercian touring bike will be 50/34 and 11-28 in back. It's enough for me.

My 80s Specialissima was 52/42 and 14-27 5 speed freewheel in back. It was OK for loaded touring then but I am no longer 19 and race fit.

I use a 50/39/30. I hardly ever use the 30 and rarely use the 39. I ride the big chainring most of the time even when climbing. I have a 9 speed cassette and generally only use the 15 or 17. The only reason I had to replace the cassette a couple of weeks ago was because those two gears were worn enough the chain just kept skipping when on those gears. I ride single speed most of the time while on a a trip and only change gears for a mid Appalachians style climb(3-4 mile, 300-400 feet per mile).

i got 22-32-44 now with an 11:32. same deal for me (started a thread
on this a week or so ago....), hardly ever use the big ring, also want a
smaller gear for long long long long climbs while touring.

you want to lower your big gears some, but not TOOOOO much, which
is what your 34:11 would be. you'll spin out on the flats. aren't
those 2x 34's designed to work with 12:42 cassettes?

go with a mountain/trekking triple.....22-32-42 paired with 11:34.
you should be able to find a triple for less than half the cost of that
other chainring, perhaps even cheaper. if you find still too high, you
can replace outer ring with a 40.

28 & 40 chain ring, 12-36 9 spd cassette, 32 mm tire.

I have a mountain crank-set - 24/38/48 and on one wheel 12-32 and on the other 11-30.

I essentially have one bike so it has to do it all for me! The gearing i have does very well for my commutes and tours. I do live in a hilly area so my needs may be different than yours...

I have 2 cranksets, minus the chainrings, in my parts bin. It was cheaper to buy the whole crankset with the chainrings I wanted than to buy the individual chainrings.

A lot of the touring bikes in our family, including mine, are set up with 9-speed 44/32/22 cranksets with an 11-34 cassette. We have one hold out that runs a 48/36/26 with an 11-34. I'll put a 24 tooth small chainring on before a tour this summer; but I'll bet she will ask about a 44/32/22 when we return. There will be a lot of climbing.

Front: 22-36-48
Rear: 12-36 (9 speed)

The combo works nicely for me. I spend most of my time in the middle and, for climbs, in the small chainring. I don't bomb down hills like I used to, but I occasionally switch to the big chainring when I am feeling strong, or when there are tailwinds.

Although doubles have improved since the early 1990s, triples are still more versatile. But if I were to re-do my drive train, I would consider a theoretical set-up something like this:

Front: 20-30-40
Rear: 11-36 (10 speed)

For me, the main advantage of using a mtn triple, lets say a 44/32/22 is that with a relatively close ratio cassette like a 9 speed 12-27, you can still have a reasonably low low gear--somewhere around 19 g.i range, and or you can change the 22 to a 20 and get lower (and of course, using 30, 32, 34 etc cassettes will get it lower)

on my 26in bike, in the mid ring, I can ride up to the high 20s kph, even with a 12t. At times I wish I had a 34t but all in all, with lots of stuff on a bike, the 32t ring gets used for the vast majority of the riding time, ie in the 15-25+kph speeds.

I look at planning for a chainring/cassette combo to put the priority at being realistic about the low range you will need for all kinds of climbing situations for a given bike+gear weight, and then also taking into account trying to figure out the range of speeds that you will be going for the vast majority of the time--and having closer cassettes with smaller jumps means it is easier on your knees and legs, and is more efficient.

I would still always want to have at least a 42 ring, if not 44 for the times we get a tailwind, and or slight downhill. Even with my 42-12 with 26x1.5 tires, I can comfortably go along at 40kph, but then I tend to be more comfortable at higher cadences due to having low torque legs and knees.

I used to think that mtn triples were too limiting, but for me anyway, a bike with 40lbs on it means that the 32 ring is pretty much used most of the time on the flats. On 700 bikes, compared to my 26in bike, the gear inches are going to be a bit higher which is nice to extend the useable top speed range of the 32 chainring.

personally I think with only a 34-11 top gear, you would find yourself missing some larger gears, even though a 42 or 44-11 is certainly not considered high (somewhere in the 90 g.i range)

This sounds like good advice to me. I like the idea of lowering the 3 chainrings down to a usable size, instead of using a wide range cassette. I'm always shifting to find a good cadence. But some riders don't care so much about cadence.

Here's a 22-32-42 with a 9 speed 12-25. Each of the three chainrings has reasonably close shifts.


And the same 22-32-42 with a 11-32. Wider gaps between shifts, especially above 15 mph, where close shifts are helpful.


Here's the Mike Sherman Gear Calculator settings for the 22-32-42 and 12-25. The popup message is telling you that you can bookmark these settings to recall later. Changing cadence or gear sizes will update all the charts on the fly.

Lowest gears
3.0 mph on the low gear 22-25 is 44 rpm. And with a 22-32, it's 55 rpm . For long, steep climbs with a heavy load, that 18 gear inches on the 22-32 might be necessary. The 22-25 is 23 gear inches.


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To compare: The 22-36-48 and 12-36 mentioned by acantor above. An interesting setup, too. Very low gears, 3.0 mph is 62 rpm.

Was 13-34t freewheel , 50/40/24 (700c wheel) ; now 16:53 R'off, 406 wheel Bike Friday .