Before I geek-out to much, I have to come clean. I use my 22F/34R combo. There, I said it. I would like to think that I am getting stronger and could live with a 32 in the rear instead of the 34 but to this day I am clinging to the safety of my 34. And now that the sexy SRAM XX 2x10 speed is here, and other 2x9 drive trains are trying to compete, do they offer comparable gearing AND the advantage of crisp front shifting?
I plugged four current drivetrain options into the Sheldon Brown Gear Calculator and used my trusty 22F/34R combo as the baseline. Here is what I learned:
The numbers circled in red in the lower left corner represent gear inches in the "easiest" gear combo. The bigger the number, the harder the gear.







The biggest eye opener of this exercise was the 11.1% difference of SRAM XX vs. my current gearing. When I am 9 hours into a 12 hour Cream Puff 100 race, could I really push a gear that is 11.1% harder? Some will argue that you will simply adapt, and therefore go faster, and that having the 22F/34R is a crutch. What do you think?
EDIT 3/31/2010: I am not building a new geared bike but I have been curious about the new SRAM XX. For now, I will stick with my 22/32/44 and my 11-34 in the back.