How to Get MORE Range for Less Money 

Just have to wait until the "This changes everything" cycle cycles around again and 3X becomes the must have.

1X can't die, not while I'm too lazy to maintain more than a singled erailleur! and even that is pushing it. Hubs need more love.

The more I see bike videos by Path Less Pedaled and Old Shovel, the more I value my early 90s hybrid bike with it's 3X front derailleur. I think he is going to get a lot of feedback from viewers who also will mount a 2X front derailleur on their bikes. You add a little weight, but you add a lot of utility. (Maybe someone will sell kits for specific bikes.)

Just a crazy thought here, what about running 3 chainrings up front. You know, like 3 1x setups at once. 🤯 Game changer!

I like my 3x9, and not entirely because I'm a retrogrouch. I genuinely like the "man and machine" mechanical aspect of biking, and just find something satisfying about two simple sets of gears being combined to get a reasonable chainline and the cadence I want, without requiring a dinner plate sized rear cassette. Maybe it's akin to preferring a manual over an automatic car?

The irony - cheap supermarket bikes get 3 cogs in the front, while more expensive get 1 or 2 nowadays. Cycling industry is such a ripoff, the more you pay the less you get - by the time you spend enough to buy an 8 kg bike, the price is high enough to simply buy a new motorcycle instead :D

As a bike mechanic i hate triples with indexed shifter. Getting the triple to not rub in any gear combo can be a fucking nightmare. I love triples with friction, works the dream

3X forever. The tides of time swept past me and left me with a stable of drop bar bikes with triple cranksets, friction shifting front, indexed rear. I have them set up with the iconic 24t granny gear with gear ratios in the 600+% range.

Triple is the new single!

I'm totally over all the latest 11s, 12s and even 13s..... I think my next drivetrain I'm going to save myself money AND frustration by just getting a 2x9 from Microshift.

I love buying vintage bikes from the 80’s. None if these comparability problems, lots of range, beautiful bikes. The modern bike industry is loosing its mind.

Completely didn't think Russ would still be casting sensible retro excellence 5 years on. Im taking my hat off to you Russ, and clapping while standing in my living room here in Vancouver, BC.

Even if I have no interest in trying a setup like this one, I enjoyed the video and I’m actually glad such alternatives are possible

I actually like both 2x11 on my road bike, and 1x11 with 44t chainring on my flatbar commuter/gravelbike that rarely sees proper hills. What annoys me is that industry got it all mixed up - they are putting triples on kids and cheep hybrid or commuter bikes that would benefit from single chainring because in my experience most non-cyclists don't understand or care how the gears on bikes work, especially in front.

8x3 with friction thumbies is my cutting edge solution. I live in a hilly town.

"If it's rubbing, just move it!" I love it. You tell them, Russ! Doubles and triples forever!

I still like the shifting of 2x and 3x systems, but for my general use, 1x is just fine. I get the low gears, and don't worry about the 'aspirational' gears at the top end. My current setup I'm good up to 25mph. Even with that I'm thinking of going smaller chainring. If I'm going that fast, just as likely to be coasting.

Very helpful. I love your geeky small part videos. Right up my alley anyway. Thank you Russ!!

Glad to see the “mini-revolt” on single cranks. I am a big fan of triples. I just bought an aluminum frame with cr-mo fork touring bike: has manual disk brakes and a TRIPLE crank 50/39/30 paired to a 7speed 12-28. Comes with 32mm tires, states can fit up to 40mm. With a chain stay of 450, should be plenty stable for long day trips at least . All for $500 brand new Motobecane Super Mirage, loving it! And made in Taiwan, ain’t China yet! ✌️👍

Russ Shout-out for using your hand as a backdrop for showing small parts. Very effective!

Us Bikepacker racing in the Rockies often Add a granny gear from an old triple chrankset as a bailout for extend Mtn climbs. No frt derailleur needs just stop & manually unship the chain & wrap in on the desired chainring.

You added your Great sense of Humor! Clearly something you have an unrecognized talent for and should incorporate in your whole life. These moments were Brilliant: "if it's rubbing, just move it" ; "think of it as a shifting mullet - that way you can get the best of both worlds"

My rides are generally quite smooth and flat. Currently using a 1x8, 46 front and 11-42 rear. Quite adequate for my situation.

this IS the philosophy!!! Love the channel love the bikes!! We all gotta be freaks in the streets/trails

I love the idea of the industry marketing two 1X’s up front😂

I really appreciate all your videos Russ. Hope you two are doing well.

Great content, Russ! Can you follow up with a demonstration of how you add the chain ring to the front crank. I'm my own mechanic for most things, but I rarely get into modifications or maintenance on my crank set. I suspect there are many others like me.

Thank you, Im so glad to have found and stuck with your channel.

Hi Russ, another great video. For my UK Genesis Vagabond, I run a 38-24 chainring with a Deore M6000 Low Clamp, side-swing front mech with a microshift friction bar-end shifter. It has full cable housing that doesn't require stops or pulleys and mine is just cable tied in place. The other beauty of it is that it has very little rear projection behind the seat tube, so it means I can fit 2.1 rubber and full mudguards with room to spare. Just done a 7 day tour of Brittany, Northern France and it worked flawlessly and I was able to spin up all of the hills!!

I totally agree with the 2 by and 3 by they give you so much extra that people don't seem to see , love the two bikes you've shown , they are more my style of bike , keep up the videos their always great to see 👍

Friction in the front index in the back like the 90s. Why not?!! 🔥

My old XT 3x9 has a whopping 727% range! 44-32-22 chainrings and 11-40 cassete.

fantastic video ! keep em coming !

Love it. On my Surly LHT I have a down tube friction shifter for the front triple and a Ultegra 9 spd brifter for the back. I love the friction on the front, no rubbing ever!!!!!!!

Friction front and index rear is soooo amazing. It really changed my cycling life

Front derailleurs rock. Love my 3by trek hifi, and dont care if the bike shop keeps hinting i need to upgrade.

I love front derailleurs. All my bikes have 'em. I run 3x7s (42/34/24 paired with a 7-speed 13-34, friction, of course!) on a couple bikes; great combo for the hilly Arizona single-tracks.

Nice video! Lot's of ideas! Thank you!

Love it. 2x for life. Those plastic cable guides that go under the bottom bracket shell - I just double stick tape them on and the cable pressure keeps them in place. Done it to a vintage carbon Look road bike and 2 90s MTBs. (Most shops should have the double cable guides sitting around)

tip for drop bar: on old campy groupsets the front shifter isn't indexed. add, that you can do a shimergo build allowing you to use wide range mtb cassettes and voilá... 2x9 massive range climbs everything monster machine. just don't do what i did the first time around and overdo the difference in chain ring size, ending up with barely any overlap, which gets annoying pretty quick.

Just recently upgraded (or downgraded, depends how you come at it) the drivetrsin on my Marin four corners. It came with 3x9 shimano sora (50/39/30 x 11-36) , which was great. Especially when it was my first ever drop bar bike, so I had all that wide gear range for me to find what worked the best for me. And after 3 years and 16 000 km's, the bike has now 2x11 shimano grx drivetrain, with an awesome "save the front derailleur" sticker on the seat tube. 😄 Also a funny note, that when I was comparing on different gravel bikes back in 2020, most of them came with 50/34 road cranksets and had very few mounting points. Not suitable for my needs at all. So thanks Russ for advocating on the low gears and front derailleurs!

I love 1x. All my bikes including my road bike is 1x. To each their own.

Have been running a 3by Shimano Tiagra 4703 groupset (50-34-30) on my road bike for 4.5 years (about 50/50 pavement and gravel). Loving it. Am contemplating going ghetto-quintuple (a-la René Herse) using half of a cassette instead of chainrings in the front with a wide q-factor gravel shaft - for better chainline, bigger cogs in the back and shits'n'giggles, of course:)

You are on to something here Russ 👍

It is simple. They want us to spend more money on stuff that will change and change and change. You are doing a great job bro and I run a 3 x 10 XTR on my full squish and it works the charm. I can climb a wall then latter pedal at 40 mph on the dh! - M

Only thing I'd add to this video is that, while it's true that road bikes have lost low gears, mountain bikes have lost HIGH GEARS. Most MTBs rocking a 30-50 or 32-50 low gear are easily in the ballpark of alltime low gears (e.g., 22-36 w/26" tires was among the lowest gears on MTBs 15 years ago), but now they're spinning out at around 20mph, for better or worse.

Too funny. I was on triples all my life till I discovered 1x three years ago. Im 66 and love Advent X 10 speed. Plenty of range with 34 on my gravel bike and 30 on my MTB. 11-48 , if I drop below 5 kph on the steeps then I'm faster pushing.

Bike hackery and wide range gearing! That’s what I’m here for. Well worth the patreonage

My left lever integrated dropper post is quite happy in 1x and never felt the need for more range. 1x Lives!

this is so helpful, thank you!

Thank you. I really like seat tube shifters for front. Basically the lower chainring is only for heavy load when going up hill. But its nice to have it there when you need it.

1x has helped facilitate modern mountain bike geometry but is not necessary for most drop-bar bikes other than allowing for fatter meats and tighter chainstays. As an mtb'er I insisted on 1x for my first gravel bike (simplicity/coolness) but as the years and miles have passed I have seen the need for a much wider gear range on that bike. Thanks for the great video.

Great video!

Heya Russ, GREAT video! I love my 2017 Kona Sutra Touring Bike which has 3x front, 9 speed in back. Bar ends friction front index rear, GREAT RANGE!

1. The MicroShift thumbies and bar end shifters are sold as pairs. The right can be 9-10-11 speed index depending on model AND can be converted to friction. Although i prefer the RD in index. The left hand FD shifter is sold as working either 2x or 3x.. friction only. it will work both effortlessly. 2 if you have a friend with a lathe, one off clamps etc inc offset versions are relatively easy and affordable to make. Or just visit your nearest machine shop in town. 3. Friction is the only way to shift a FD. Index front is garbage, especially for 3x. 4. Grest video!

Doing unusual things with bikes is fun! That’s one of the many reasons I like them. Who cares what others think? I have a 2x on an old Stumpjumper… a 2x1! A regular gear for flats and a low gear for hills. It’s a blast!

That front derailleur mount is so good in silver. Classy looking bike.

Another benefit of using friction shift on the front is that you don't have to worry about whether the indexing between shifter and derailleur are compatible. I went back to friction shifting when I started using road shifters with mountain bike mechs and I haven't gone back. Simple shifting and I can easily trim the mech so it doesn't foul the chain. Nice video, I never went down the 1X rabbit hole.

Always wanted to try 1x but I realized that my rides are more road and touring oriented so I cannot leave my 2x and 3x. If I ever want to try giving dh a try, it'll definitely be a 1x.

I totally agree with everything you've said here. I presently have 3 bikes, an 87 bianchi 2x7, a 2013 kona sutra 3x9 and a 90's mountain bike 3x7 that I've put drop bars with tektro rl 340 brakes. Living in the northern Appalachian mountains in Quebec I do a lot of climbing, (and descending) and can always find the right gear especially when loaded for touring. I have a bike for all types of roads and trails and have still spent way less than a new 1x dedicated "gravel" bike.

There's also the Shimano Front pull, side swing. Fantastic stuff! I just set up my Bridge Club 3x9 with old XT thumbies. Talk about gear range and no problems.

For that bolt on type guide I use silicone RTV to glue it on. Just cleans the matting surfaces real good.

My oddball mountain bike, I bought a year ago, uses triple front gears. I have plenty of gears for high or low.

I like your idea of friction in the front and indexed in the rear.

Turning 1x bikes into 2x bikes is the 21st century version of a klunker and I'm here for it.

I've been impressed with the side pull FDs from shimano.

Thanks for posting this. I don’t get all the 1X’s out there. I passed up several bikes because they were only offered in a 1X. Another reason I love my three CO-Motions. 2X11 wide touring gears. I live in the PNW, I want and need gears!

great video. thanks for sharing info about the cable guide(I'm now using tape for the 3rd cable). I have learned that a new world opens up to you when you have easy climbing gears with smaller jumps. We should bust gear myths like tire myths. Downhill gearing? I'm going downhill on a bike. I don't actually have to pedal at all. ;)

I have two sets of a triple mountain crank in 165 mm. I use them with a single chain ring because it is flat where I live (Delaware). I will never give them because I can convert them back to give a wide range with very low gears.

I run 9 speed 22/36 chain rings on my bikes with a 11/36 on back. This is a smaller set of gears than the 42,46, or 50, better shifting. Lots of range and no problems as I maintain my drive train regularly!

I'm too old / broken / repaired to use curly bars, so I have a 1x12 GX on the carbon trail bike frame, and a GRX 2X11 on the flat bar gravel bike running 105 flat bar shifters and 38c tires...which can substitute 28c to make a passable flat bar recreational road / hybrid bike for smooth tarmac...also have an old aluminum frame mountain bike with 3x11 XT converted from 26" to 27.5" which gets the bottom bracket a tad higher for packing or rough trails.

I prefer an internal gear hub) I had front x3 on my MTB (which I used for travel) but it had frequent issues and I didn't use it, single front 36 and cassette 11x36 was ideal for me

100%! With modern (9+ speed) cassettes and chainsets, a 2x has better range and are smoother pedaling than the 80s and 90s 3x6/7 combos I've owned, with 1 exception (and that cost almost a full paycheck back in '86 just for the 8x 11-32 custom freewheel and 3x 52/42/28 crankset and axle). As for the below bottom bracket cable guide, most of the not bottom of the line steel frames have that hole threaded. If not, it is super easy to thread it or use a short self-tapping metal screw. I've done both and haven't managed to rip one off yet. (It is super handy to have even a small Harbor Freight, aka cheap/junky, tap & die set for the occasional cleaning out mount points and rescuing munged threads) Another way to add a cable stop, if you have access to vintage/old biike parts, is the downtube shifter mount clamp on band + downtube shifter mounted cable stop with barrel adjuster. There are some pretty cool ones from the 70s and early 80s, and those polished aluminum Dura-Ace downtube cable stops from the mid 90s are gorgeous IMO.

Well researched and backed by hands on experience! Thanks for sharing that info. Dumb newbie question: Did you also change over the rear shifter to friction? If not, why not? Reason I ask is that I am leaning towards just setting a frame up like back in the day, or even using an older frame and just running an olde-school 2x or 3x using friction shifters.

I'm converting my early production Stumpjumper 29er for bikepacking and I love my 3x10. When I finally get a new bike it will probably be 1x and I'll probably like it just fine, but I for now I got gears for days.

I live in a very hilly town here in Brazil and I will never own an urban bike without 3x in the front. That's it, non negotiable. I also have 11-40 in the back. For road bike 2x is alright. 1x can disappear off the face of the earth for all care.

Yes we need more pro 2 x support.

I have to say the idea of putting friction shifting up front with a modern maybe even electronic drive train in the back is very interesting - it opens many possibilities. and its not hard to learn cause the chain is either up or down and if you size the changerings right you dont even need to shift the front that often and can use the bike as 1x most of the time with the bailout small ring as an inexpensive option. i like it.

I predicted you would do this to your new bike. Now it's perfect. I am just terrified when my 3X mtb, which can crawl up anything, breaks down for good and I have to buy a new bike. I guess at that point I'll have to watch this video again but concentrate on the details. Good job.

The bike industry moved away from multiple rings because it cut production costs by eliminating components from a groupset (remember thirty years ago, a complete group included the hubs, headset, pedals and seatpost along with the brakeset/drivetrain bits) AND the majority of riders never used all the gears they had available anyway. Most people don't live or ride near mountain ranges with great elevation changes over the course of a day where they'd need all that gear range.

Running 1 chain ring is like a trip to the past, it's funny how ideas go around and around, I suppose 1x is new to those who haven't been cycling for very long, but it's what we had before we upgraded to a double or triple setup. Good video though, might save someone's knees.

Do you think that a 10/50 eagle would take a 2x mod Russ? I'm not sure about the chain length capacity between low/low and High/high...... say 28/42 front for instance, been thinking about this since getting a new to me bike with 1x eagle, which I find very limited in range coming from 3x.

I was riding the Tour de Steamboat gravel hundo last week. That ride has a stupid steep pitch, probably 0.25 miles @ 14%. I have a 2x Canyon Grizl (48x31 front, 11-34 rear) and averaged 290W @ 54 rpm. Brad Bingham (Bingham Built custom bikes) and his wife came by me on a 1x12 rig and they had to be spinning 70 rpm. The range on the rear cassette is absolutely huge. I assume they are lacking on the top end, but that gearing was very adequate for steep uphills.

I have trekking XT 3x10 48-36-26 with 11-36 and loving it. I'm going to try it with 11-42 cassette. Not sure it'll work well though.

You’re making great points on why to go 2x, but I’ll never go back. 1x for life ☝🏽

It will be interesting to see future RU-vid tutorials on how to convert a 1x to a 3x. When that happens, I'll already be ahead of the curve.

I purchased a bike with a Shimano GRX 600 1x and soon regretted it as the 40t chainset up front wasn't enough. Can I switch this to the set-up above with a bar-end shifter and do I have to be careful with what front 2x chainset I replace the 1x one with in regards to compatibility and Q factor?

I go my gear inches rather than % range. I use 1x and 2x on different bikes. They both have pros and cons, but 2 x has always been my “go to” where I need a bit of versatility and wide range. That being said I run a Deore 11 speed/105/GRX/Wolfftooth 11 speed mullet on my Gorilla Monsoon. Why? It’s got the range for bike packing (11/51 with 32 upfront) effectively MTB gears with 105 shifters. Works great but don’t expect to be fast on the road! For other bikes and where I need a bigger top end I use 2 x. It’s nice to have the choice but 1 x is not a panacea for all gear ills!

what chainring do you use on your dixna la crank? the dixna chainring too? what tooth do you run? thanks

This is fun - I just rode my 1x sram eTap 12 speed down the west coast with zero issues.. a 1x system to me pushes you to become a better stronger cyclist .. With a 40t front I only lose contact down the steeps over 40 mph which is fine for me i just tuck and rip it -- I can’t fathom why anyone who is seriously out there cycling would want bar shifters -- With Sram you can literally put wireless blips anywhere to change gears - to me this makes mechanical shifting obsolete my shifters are always were i need them and when you’re in traffic or bombing down a mountain the last thing you want is take your hands off the bars to shift -

I have a Surly Midnight Special with a 1X 40t.. I would love to have a 2X with a 40/24 combo.. hopefully soon.. like the range.. Thanks Russ 🚴‍♂️😎

I love my triple chainring MTN bike!

How does a braze on clamp give you more adjustability than just one with a built in clamp? Honestly curious. I can slide the FDR as high up, or as low down as i need on the seat tube.

While others have videos showing how to get less range, for more money, he has this one. Thank you, from the bottom of my cheap heart. I respect bikers who can do tricks you can't simply buy easily. A seat tube shifter? Or, shifting by the bottom of your pants?

I can’t understand why a pro racing cyclist would be happy with a single chainring. I even heard an ex AquaBlue rider state that it cost the team victories. From my experience racing you needed close ratios I.e. a straight through block to optimise your cadence. Years after I packed up serious racing I rode a club 3 up and was just about finished with a mile to go and couldn’t hold onto a wheel because of the 2 tooth gap on my block. I’d call it the Goldilocks’ effect because I’m sure I could have coped with the right gear. I even had a close ratio block on my touring bike (mostly camping) when I was still pretty fit and covering large distances. My 6 speed block would be something like 15,16,17,18,21,24 or maybe 16 to 26, it’s a long time ago now. It meant my top speed pedalling was only about 30 mph but I preferred having a close range for the majority of the time.

Today I put an IRD Vortex 30/46 crankset on my drop bar mtn bike aka gravel bike. Playing with braze on vs clamp on derailleurs I could not get the larger ring with my Shimano brifters. The bike has is steel, has room for 55mm tires and a 73mm bb shell. Ended up ordering a new GRX braze on model. It’s supposed to have room for wider tires which I’m hoping also means it’ll grab the big ring. Using the IRD clamp for braze on changers.

I’d love to see a video on how the 1x came to be. All of the bikes in my household are 20+ years old and all 3x. Never followed the bike industry until I started watching Russ’s videos

You will have to pry my triple (3X) from my cold dead hands...Kidding although my gravel bike does have a 3X (28/38/48) I could get by with a double (46/30) just fine. I do have a 1X on my electric bike(which is a mountain bike and hella fun to ride), but I don't need low gears to climb hills because I got power assist.

Russ, what rear derailleur are you using and what is the cassette that gives you the high ratio?

Side note, Jumbo Visma road cycling team has been using a 1x setup this year for some stages. The funny thing is Primoz Roglic dropped a chain on a steep uphill TT stage using a 1x. He still won, but drama. I imagine you will see them use it in the TDF.