Why have a triple?

[Brucey]

when a wheel rolls it always rolls the same circumference (if the tread belt is inextensible) in one turn regardless of the exact shape of the wheel.

cheers

[MikeDee]

Triples are better for me. I can have a wider gear range, a lower gear, closer spacing, and avoid 11 tooth cogs (which have more chordial action than 12, and less efficiency). 11 speed requires new wheels and the parts are more expensive than 10. 11 speed chains are more expensive and probably weaker than 10. I would have to go 11 speed on a double to get even close to what I have with my 10 speed triple. The middle ring covers most of my riding. If I had a double I'd be shifting between rings more and the gap between the big and the small is much greater than the big and middle, which means more shifting in the rear when I change rings with a double.

The triple gives me three overlapping gear ranges. The way I look at it is if I'm about to climb a steep grade, I shift to the small ring. When going fast on the flats or downhill, I use the big ring. The middle ring is for everything else. The fact that you have more duplication of gears with a triple is a red herring. It's irrelevant. It just works.

[RickH]

Why do we still have triples?

devil's advocate; why not?

You get a lot of extra gears for very little added weight; the 'complications' are mostly either in the mind of some or because the way some manufacturers choose to make their equipment.

cheers

Or bunch of duplicate gears & a few extras!

My bike with a Campag triple set up has nominally 30 gears (50/39/26F & 13-29 rear) but, in reality, gives me 17 different gears (plus duplicates & gears I shouldn't use - I don't, apart from by accident, use the biggest couple of sprockets with the 50T or the smallest couple with the 26T).

TBH I have had very few problems with it & they have mostly been due to neglect or poor choices (White Lightning Epic Ride, more like Epic Fail from my experience! ) but I've been using a 1x11 for most of my solo riding this year & I can't say I've missed the triple at all so far.

[amediasatex]

Even if you cna come up with the perfect gearing setup for you, that's exactly what it is, your perfect setup, doesn't mean it'll work for someone else, or even the same person under a different use. I have bikes with singles, doubles and triples, all are setup optimally for their intended use and with me as the rider.

To be fair you could make a fairly convincing argument to me to replace at least one of the triple setups with a double, and it would be possible to maintain both the range and steps between gears, so why don't I?

Simple, the triple is an 8 speed, I'd have to go to 11 speed cassette to do it and I neither want the cost nor longevity issues associated with that (it's a bad weather Audax bike) so even when it is possible to have the holy grail of range and desired steps between gears it can fall short for in other areas. I choose the triple because I choose 8 speed, if I were running 11 speed I probably wouldn't choose the triple.

If there was an 11 or 12 speed (or more) setup that could be run with cheap 7/8 speed chains, cassettes that cost <£15 and didn't then have the consequent dish and chainline issues I'd be the first to swap, but that's a technical impossibility.

There's more to consider than just the actual gears...