My road bike doesn't have low enough gearing for steep mountain roads, and is not practical to change the gearing. So I'm at buying a new or used bike that has better gearing for this.
A friend recommended the Poseidon X Gen 3 to me. Is this a good bike for my purposes?
https://www.poseidonbike.com/products/xgen3?variant=46303960465636
My biggest concern is that the 1x drivetrain will result in me running of high gears on the downhills. Would this be an issue?
Let me know if you think this is a good bike for mountain roads. And if you have any other recommendations, please post! Thanks!
by Thundrbldr
1 Comment
The Poseidon X Ambition gen 3 has a 38T chainring in front and 11-48t in back. So 38×48, that’s pretty good for climbing, yes. But you will definitely run out of gears without spinning out on downhills with a 38×11 top gear, it will be hard to push the bike above maybe 30mph on your own power. It will probably be more noticeable on slight downhills than steep ones where gravity is making you fast enough. Personally I prefer a 42×11 minimum gear on my bikes.
The widest range drivetrains you can find on bikes right now are:
* Microshift Sword 2×10. With a 46/29 or 48/31 in front and an 11-38t in back this has huge range. Only bike off the top of my head available with this is [Marin Four Corners 1](https://www.marinbikes.com/bikes/2025-four-corners-1)
* Shimano CUES U6030 2×10. A 50/34 or 46/32 in front and an 11-39t in back makes this comparable to the Sword. Bikes with this include the [2026 Specialized Allez](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/allez/p/4221808), [Canyon Endurace AllRoad](https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road-bikes/endurance-bikes/endurace/allroad/endurace-allroad/4164.html)
* Shimano GRX 400 2×10. 46/30 crank with up to 11-36t in back means slighly less range than the above two but still pretty good. Some people hack run it with 11-38 or 11-42 in back. Lots of bikes come with this setup.