"single chainrings and the detrimental effects on bicycle suspensions"

Mountain bike suspension has many factors that alter its performance when riding flats, ascents and descents. I had never considered how gravitational forces act differently upon the suspension according to the incline, until I read this fascinating (to me, at least) article by Dave Weagle, mountain bike suspension designer (notably of the DW-Link system used on many different bikes, including my Ibis Mojo).

In summary, gravity acts upon your suspension at different angles, relative to the suspension travel, when you're riding flats, ascents or descents, and it just so happens that the use of different chainrings counteracts these effects on your bike's rear suspension. The bottom line is that a triple chainring up front is superior to a single ring for anyone who rides varied terrain.

In other words, as cool as a single ring up front may seem - even if a rear cassette gives you enough gears with a single up front - a triple ring setup provides performance benefits to a full-suspension bike beyond simple gearing alone...

Click here for the full story by DW