Horse looking at out-of-fashion tech
Personally i like them quite a bit, the small gear steps, i am using the simultaneous shifting like front 1 up, rear 1 down a lot to find myself in the best cadence.
I know people being happy with their switch over to 1x setups, but tbh i don't see myself doing that at all. I guess 2x, but i wonder how you would get to the small steps, like do you do something like front 1 up, rear 3(?) down, or just get used to the bigger steps?
Do you think 3x drivetrains will ever make a comeback or are they fading out for good?
I think that 2x is a good option, 1x are just dumb. If you count the usable gear combinations it can be comparable to 3x.
I was little bit worried when I specked my current bike with 2x10 grx, but with few hacks planned down the line it should get there (1:1 ratio is just too hard for heavy bikes). Mainly 11-42 or 45 cassette and ~40/30 chainrings.
Other thing is crank length, 170/175 mm is too long for long multi day trips. Shorter cranks don't make you feel that you are doing squats all day and are easy on your knees.
I just feel that Shimano is too focused on performance driving that there are no good options for normal people. You have to do these hacks and tricks to get it there.
I have loads of curs words for Shimano in all my climbs.