the unfortunate thing is that the opinions/comments/reasoning of the last three fellows dont make the manufacturers give a rats patootee.

that said, I figure triple setups are always going to be around on real touring bikes, its just unfortunate that on lots of bikes that could be useful touring bikes will often have gearing that isnt low enough for a lot of folks, but then this has been the case a lot in the past also....

plus this topic tends to come back to the same opinions put out by those of us who find triples very useful and the perfect tool for the job......

triples are more useful in a rolling hill terrain.
The cog in the back stays the same gear while you change between the middle ring and outter ring in the front.
You just alternate between them depending if you go up or down hill.
You remain seated on the flats and downhill while standing on the crank when going up the short uphill.

Wouldn't be so bad, if everyone still made shifters that supported triples.

With a modern 11s indexed drivetrain your choice is either Shimano XT Di2 or Campag Athena last I looked.

I think that the category of "touring" is so broad that it is hard to really define a good system for touring.

Regarding drivetrains, I am not seeing any firm trends. There are more using Rohloff drivetrains, although the high markups for German components clearly limits that transition in USA. (When I bought my Rohloff from a German supplier, if I bought it in USA it would have cost about 50 to 60 percent more.) When cycle touring in Iceland for a month in 2016 I saw more Rohloffs than I have seen in all of my other tours in USA combined. Outside of USA, more IGH usage is a firm trend. I do not know yet if gearing built into the bottom bracket is going to take off or not.

Drivetrains for derailleur bikes is slowly following trends established by road bikes, but with wider gearing. The biggest trends I see here is cassettes with more sprockets over time (like road bikes) and more touring bikes with brifters instead of bar end shifters (also, like road bikes).

As mountain bikes and hybrids gain wider range cassettes, I would not be surprised if triple cranks disappear from the mass market within a decade. And once triples are no longer offered on mountain bikes and hybrids, they will no longer be made and thus will be unavailable to touring mass market models.

You might find companies like Sugino continue to make triples, but if new shifters and front derailleurs are not available to mate with them, those might disappear too.

This past spring I built up a new Titanium touring bike but the drivetrain is mostly using components that were designed over two decades ago, square taper crank, eight speed cassette, an M739 XT rear derailleur, bar end shifters, steel axle cup and cone rear hub. Since the bike has a rear disc brake, I needed a new hub for it and could not use a wheel from my collection. I chose the M756A XT rear hub that uses the older style steel axle instead of a newer style of hub with cartridge bearings. Call me a Luddite if you want, but I wanted a drive train that is robust, easily replaceable, reliable, and easy to repair. (I think I just defined a four "R"s for cycle touring.)

I wouldn't read too much into trends. Once they stop selling triples they can wait a year or two before bringing them back, whilst regaling us all with sales blather about how great this 'new' innovation is (biopace, anyone?). Cycling seems an inherently faddy and trend based pass time, and remember, outside of the commuting, touring, and utility sub-groups, most bikes are just recreational machines, something for people to spend disposable income on. (Come to think of it, touring is pretty much purely recreational also, it just has a few unique gear needs shared mainly with commuters and utility cyclists.)

Nope... doesn't quite roll off the tongue like oval or elliptical but... they were asymmetrical or in Shimano-speak: they exhibited a, point-symmetric egg curve.

Shimano DA bar end shifters too. They can run 3x11.
Same with Microshift bs-A11 shifters.

This is my set up.

22-32-42 standard mtb cranks.


Standard mtb shifters.

Well thats a setup ive never seen before.

+1,

Herman, what didn't you like about mounting the thumbies to the top of your drop bar?

First, great link to showing your gearing! I hadn't seen that before. So I used that to enter in my 28/38 front and 11 speed 11-40 rear. Chart. I think that is far more reasonable. I certainly agree that in the past a triple was de rigueur for touring but these days, with 11 speed rear, the case is far less compelling.

1. Modifications. I couldn't get the shifters to go around the bend. Gets stuck once the bend starts. Lol.

2. Can't reach them from the drops.

3. Too far from the hoods.

4. Even if i could mount them on the tops, like some people do (google), that would reduce the grip space on the tops.

That 38/28 combo with 11 speeds does make a reasonable setup--as always, the factors of 11 speeds costs, 11 speed longevity of chains and how much cross chaining affects the drivetrain are all real concerns, not to mention how much shifting between the 38 and 28 would be going on....all realistic concerns from someone who has toured a lot.

To repeat myself though, with a lighter load it would probably work really well, cost and wear issues aside.

3x9 flat bar of sorts with a mt bike shifter, works for me. Not so much for drop bars.

Where is this short uphill touring you speak of? Not in New England where I pedal. Maybe in the flats of the mid west? My idea of loaded touring/bikepacking is to have a low enough gear in which to be able to sit and spin without redlining. Sometimes the hills might be a couple of miles long.

Yes, the short uphills and downhills of the midwest are frustrating, at times. It is constant shifting, at times. I found it is much easier to stay in the same cog on the rear and only shift the front derailleur. It requires keeping your speed up when approaching a hill (in your outer ring) then shifting to the middle ring while standing on the crank during the hill. At the top you can sit and shift back into the larger outer ring, then coast downhill.
I used to live in New Hampshire. I know what you're saying. The hills are too long for this.

yup, Ive never had the luxury of being on nice easy hills like that, well, hardly ever thats for sure.....

I'm pretty sure the Shimano 5700 shifters I'm using will be available for a long time. Tiagra is still available in a triple as well.

If not, I guess I have to bite the bullet and go for a bigger cassette and live with the smallest small ring they can give me.

I have 26x30 now and I might not use the last two or three, but if I'm 120 miles into a brevet and my legs feel like jello, I will be happy to climb at 7 mph and finish.

If you have to have the latest and greatest, then 11 speed is limited. However if you are willing to downgrade to the vastly inferior () 10 speed, you can still use Shimano's absolutely awful 105 components. If you want to downgrade to the positively Neanderthalic 9 speed systems, Shimano offers the Sora. There's also Microshift which makes 3x10 stuff as well.

There's also alway barend shifters...I hate 'em, but they are still an option.

And, of course, there are tons of old 7,8,9 speed shifters floating around on Fleabay. They are probably good for another 10 or 15 years so you'll be ready for the "Improved®" triple when it comes back around.

Perhaps a bit too much snark but doubles really chap my hide!

The chainrings did not win the races, but marketing can try to convince you of that..


... any how 46 30 doubles are a thing..

lance prefers biochemistry over biopace.
hard to argue with a 7-time TourDeFraud weener.

OMG, I've been ahead of the times 🙄

I've been running a 32-20 up front with a 9 speed 12-36 cassette in back on my '89 worked-over Voyageur. Original downtube friction shifters, original derailleurs front and back (I did replace the cables 🙂 )

OK, I'll 'fess up, I have a 44 chainring too but that doesn't count since I never use it.

Back when I was in my 20s, I mostly rode on the 52 front, 14 rear, crossing entire countries without shifting (small flat countries like Belgium).

Now that I’m an aging crank (61 years old), I need a smaller front chain ring.

My sentiments exactly. Why go through the hassle unless you have money to burn? Co motion seems over priced to me. But they are pretty. As far as I know a LHT will run you around $1500 and you’re done. A bike shop should have told you up front what changing the gear set up would entail. IMHO if you’re buying a new touring bike, the gear range is the starting point. Most are too high. My Volpe has a low of 28 and I’d like lower. Just my .02.