Math nerdery, gears.... (The Truth About 11-Speed)

Gears are overrated. You can climb a single speed up just about everything if you want (I cleaned good sir martin once:) ). As for superiority in one gearing system over another Mountain bikers should take their cues from road cycling at some point. Road cassettes aren't about range, they value having just the right gear for every grade of road. On a 1x11 cassette one often finds the gaps between gears too large with one being a bit too big and the other a bit too small. This is probably the best thing about 2x10 setups as the jumps between cogs are smaller. This being said, I will never use a front derailleur again as the best thing about the 1x11 set ups are many: no chain suck, no dropped chains, lighter, no shitty shifting and best of all the clutch - I love a quiet drivetrain.

Posted by: RAHrider

Gears are overrated. You can climb a single speed up just about everything if you want (I cleaned good sir martin once:) ). As for superiority in one gearing system over another Mountain bikers should take their cues from road cycling at some point. Road cassettes aren't about range, they value having just the right gear for every grade of road. On a 1x11 cassette one often finds the gaps between gears too large with one being a bit too big and the other a bit too small. This is probably the best thing about 2x10 setups as the jumps between cogs are smaller. This being said, I will never use a front derailleur again as the best thing about the 1x11 set ups are many: no chain suck, no dropped chains, lighter, no shitty shifting and best of all the clutch - I love a quiet drivetrain.

Totally. I've been running a 32x 11-42 and it's great. Relatively tight distribution even if it's a touch tall in places. No mega cassette required. On my last bike I ran a 28x 11-36, which was even tidier - impossible on the road but for pure dirt riding on the shore it was awesome.