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Gearing: A brief history of my fascination
In the early days of mountain biking my first bike was considered a marvel.....it had 21 gears which was the most you could get in 1989. 3 rings up front and a whopping 7 gears in the back. I felt as though I could climb to the moon. What could I not do? Compared to the old Schwinn Cruiser with the 5 speed on the tree (stem vs handlebar) this seemed huge.
Few years later I'd get my first race bike designed for...well...racing. Trek 8900. Suntour XC Pro with a front 46/34/24 and a 12-28 in the rear. Ah but my how times have changed when I look at my current setup on the Tomac Automatic 120mm with it's 42/32/22 crankset and 11-34 cassette in the rear. What more could a man want right?
Well....less.
I actually absolutely hate the concept of a triple crank up front and kick myself for going back to it. Shifting to the granny gear robs you of energy and well in the last 20 years it just doesn't do the trick. Shifting in general in the front rings is just not as buttery smooth as even the cheapest rear ders out there. You risk losing the chain, it never drops or picks up nearly as fast as you like, and well....I just hate it.
My trick has been over the last 4 years is actually to run what is known as a 2x9....42/29 up front and a 11-34 in back. The concept was actually dreamt up by mountain bike legend Tom Ritchey back in the late 90s. He used a modfied rear cassette (You'd get the 34t ring in the kit to slide on first) and a set of modified gripshifters for the 9 speed (at the time, 8 was the most you could get). Front used a special 29t ring in place of the middle and lost the wretched granny gear in the process.
While ideal, it never caught on as many racers in the big leagues were set to only run what they were paid to run. Only Ritchey's team (which won many races on it) would ever run it. It was dead by 2001.
I started running it because I actually went dos rings el fronto while living in Vegas. I ran 180mm cranks which technically is like adding an extra 2 teeth to your rear cogs...so a 32 now gears more like a 34 for example. I ran an old campy off road (yes, you heard that right, Campy) thumb shifter on the right so I could trim as needed. I fell in love with the simplicity of it all and around 2003 I picked up an old XTR 952 crank which has the removable chainring spider, replaced it with an aftermarket 5 hole compact, and hunted down a 29t.
But alas, a new frame and old standards do not mix. I could not get a bb wide enough and a lack of patience as well as a love for new tech sent me to buying a triple again. But I hate it. Gearing just feels wrong to me and I loath even more than before the granny. Oh true, SRAM has come out now with 2x10 (40/28 or 39/26 up front, 11-36 in the rear)...but it's priced out of this world. And even then I ask myself....do we even really need all of that?
My answer? Maybe not.....
(Part 2: The build)
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Permalink Reply by Jon Severson on
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Part 2:
So I've started to wonder as I see top level pros race on 1x9 systems over the year, why not take advantage of this set up now with a little advanced thinking outside the norm and little understanding of new products? A 1x10 makes quiet a bit of sense and when you start to think about it...alot of sense. As they always say: Keep It Simple Stupid.
The ingredients:
180mm Crank (either from By the Hive or maybe an old XTR)
10 speed cassette (11-36 , SRAM of course as they do R&D here)
34t Rotor Singlespeed Q ring (rotorusa.com...located right here in COS)
MRP 1x chain guide (from Mountain Racing Products in Grand Junction)
First thing is the 180mm crank. According to men much smarter than me over the last 20 years they've proven through fancy math that the extra 5mm of crank arm is like adding an extra 2 teeth to your rear cassette....so in theory that makes that cassette pedal more like a 38t cog than a 36t (and being I'm riding a 34t cog with a 32t front ring, the 36t cog alone would be a God send...much less 38t).
Now the unique part is the relatively unknown Rotor Q ring. Part of why it's unknown is just like why many people didn't run 2x9 in the 90s....sponsorship. End of the day Rotor is a small company in Spain, Shimano and SRAM don't want their sponsored athletes running anything but their goodies. Which means, no Rotor rings for many.
What is it? Why is it so special you may ask? Well Rotor rings aren't...round. They've got more of an "egg" shape to them with the logic being we as human beings do not apply equal force throughout our pedal stroke so why do we have round rings to fight it? In short, Rotor has many studies that show one saves 3% of ones power (that's a lot, we humans don't put out crap to start). Or simply put, a 34t egg shaped Rotor Q ring actually pedals in the low power zones like a 32t, yet in it's high point of power (easiest for us) it pedals more like a 36t. So you get more ummpf (note: Spellcheck does not show that to be a word. But well, we know what it means) with each pedal stroke where you need it, less where you don't.
Last, but not least, is MRP's handy little 84 gram chain guide. Why do you need this one may ask? Quiet simply, your chain will bail ship without it's beloved Front der to guide it. Such co-dependent relationships require a fix, and well this is MRP's way of making the split easier on your chain and keep it on track.
So will this work? Well time will tell. Will be slowly piecing together the pieces needed. In this day and age sadly 180mm cranks are rare, Rotor's Q Rings are in high demand and high priced, and well the 10 speed shifter/cassette/der/chain is as well. Currently only SRAM's XX ultra high end (Read: Fastest way to lighten up your wallet) is available in 10 speed though Shimano is soon to make their system public as well.
Stay tuned. We'll be letting you know when we do get it going and post pics!
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