Silly Question - What is the difference between 2x10 and 3x10?

[Firemeister]

For some of you this might be a stupid question but I need to understand this a bit better please.

 

Is 2x10 just less gears or is it less gears but with more or less the same ratios/ effects as 3x10?

 

The reason for my question is I am looking at getting a 29er frame, fork and wheels, but keep my SramXO brakes and XO 3x10 gears and use on the new 29er? Does this make sense? I read somewhere that 29ers perform better with the 2x10 speed? If so, is it possible to use the XO shifters, deraileurs etc (currently on my 3x10 speed) on a 2x10 cassette etc?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

in a word - yes. you can move your stuff across. I wouldn't say that a bike is "better" with 2x10 than 3x10, unless you're looking at a trail bike or DH bike where having extra chainrings causes clearance issues when negotiating obstacles etc.

 

And you're pretty close in your 2nd sentence. 2x10 is a lighter option, giving you approximately the same spread of gears that you'd have in a 3x10 setup. In 2x10, you lose only the lowest and highest gears, but the ratios are pretty similar.

 

And no, you won't be able to use a 3x10 shifter on a 2x10 setup (on the front, anyway. back is interchangeable, as there are the same amt of gears.

 

keep your stuff dude. no need to change to 2x10

[Firemeister]

in a word - yes. you can move your stuff across. I wouldn't say that a bike is "better" with 2x10 than 3x10, unless you're looking at a trail bike or DH bike where having extra chainrings causes clearance issues when negotiating obstacles etc.

 

And you're pretty close in your 2nd sentence. 2x10 is a lighter option, giving you approximately the same spread of gears that you'd have in a 3x10 setup. In 2x10, you lose only the lowest and highest gears, but the ratios are pretty similar.

 

And no, you won't be able to use a 3x10 shifter on a 2x10 setup (on the front, anyway. back is interchangeable, as there are the same amt of gears.

 

keep your stuff dude. no need to change to 2x10

 

Thanks for the quick and clear response. Was just wondering why most 29ers come out with 2x10. Cheers.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Thanks for the quick and clear response. Was just wondering why most 29ers come out with 2x10. Cheers.

 

'cos 2x10 is sparkly and new, and sooooo much lighter (100g or so)!

Edited April 7, 2012 by cptmayhem

[Firemeister]

'cos 2x10 is sparkly and new, and sooooo much lighter (100g or so)!

Just did the Epic with 3x10 and would happily again take that extra 100g load in exchange for a few extra gears on those massive Dr. Evil climbs (walks)

[johnw]

Yes, Firemeister has it correct... 3x10 has extra gear or 2 on both extremes for both climbing and downhill.

[Skylark]

 

And no, you won't be able to use a 3x10 shifter on a 2x10 setup (on the front, anyway. back is interchangeable, as there are the same amt of gears.

 

 

Not true....

You can use a 3x10 FD shifter with a 2 speed FD - I have and it works perfectly.

Actually it came stock on a 2x10 bike out the box.

You just don't use the one click.

Actually you can interchange 10-speed Sram & shimano FD and FD shifters but not RD and shifters.

I know firsthand becuase the stock 2x10 on a bike I got had 3x10 SLX shifters with a Sram X7 2 x10 FD

I upgraded to XT shifters and they also worked perfectly with the X7 2x10 FD

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

 

 

Not true....

You can use a 3x10 FD shifter with a 2 speed FD - I have and it works perfectly.

Actually it came stock on a 2x10 bike out the box.

You just don't use the one click.

Actually you can interchange 10-speed Sram & shimano FD and FD shifters but not RD and shifters.

I know firsthand becuase the stock 2x10 on a bike I got had 3x10 SLX shifters with a Sram X7 2 x10 FD

I upgraded to XT shifters and they also worked perfectly with the X7 2x10 FD

 

Yeah. Sorry guy. Was a moment of delusion... :-)

[NINER_boy]

Reason for "new" bikes on 2x10...

 

All the new groupsets come in the 2x10 configuration.

 

The main thing is, to have a 1:1.5 ratio on the front chainrings, and also to opt for the smaller sizes (26x39) on 29" bike.

 

Happy Hoopin

[covie]

Just moved from 3x9 to 2x10, basically because it came stock with the new bike. So far I love the 2 x 10 setup the ratio's to me just feels better, admittedly, on the serious climbs I really miss my granny and i find myself wanting to shift to a lower gear that simply is not there

 

Monster hills i use to be able to climb quite easily by shifting to granny and spinning to rest the old legs, I now struggle with since there is no option but to grind away till you get to the top. That said, my leg strength has improved tremendously, and in another month or so I dont think those hills will be so intimidating anymore. It just takes getting used to, and getting forced to develop the leg strength needed to power up the hills.

 

On the medium gradient hills though you fly like a demon. And they seem much easier to do than before. I also find that you can accelerate a lot quicker in short bursts as is needed on ST, much better for some reason, dont as me why but its like the gearing just makes more "sense"

 

And lastly you tend to shift a lot less which is never a bad thing. But in general, i stay in my small blade while i warm up, once the legs are warm I drop it onto the big blade and i can ignore my once shifter in general. Which means even less shifting.