Well I'm gonna sound crazy for saying this but IME front derailleurs have come a LONG way (at least for Shimano) and I love mine. I'm on 2x10 GRX and the front shifts are reliable, fast, and don't really require finesse. And just so you know I'm not completely nuts, I still have a trainer bike with an old 2x10 SRAM FD and it's absolute garbaggio. There's really no comparison IMO.
I'm not proposing bringing back 2x for mtb (although I know some XC marathon types who do actually want this), but I wouldn't rule out 2x GRX setups so quickly. I've been really pleasantly surprised with how well the FD works.
Feb. 12, 2025, 8:32 a.m. - Brizzy
Well I'm gonna sound crazy for saying this but IME front derailleurs have come a LONG way (at least for Shimano) and I love mine. I'm on 2x10 GRX and the front shifts are reliable, fast, and don't really require finesse. And just so you know I'm not completely nuts, I still have a trainer bike with an old 2x10 SRAM FD and it's absolute garbaggio. There's really no comparison IMO. I'm not proposing bringing back 2x for mtb (although I know some XC marathon types who do actually want this), but I wouldn't rule out 2x GRX setups so quickly. I've been really pleasantly surprised with how well the FD works.