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Old 10-16-18, 03:54 PM
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Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,207

Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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My Nomad is a 26 inch wheel bike. It has a Rohloff which has a range of 526 percent from low to high gear. It is easy to change entire gear ranges by swapping chainrings. I use two different chainrings on it.

For around home with the bike unladen, I put the bigger ring on it (44T), that gives me a range of 19.8 to 104.0 gear inches. This is great for pedaling on shallow downhills at a low effort and lower cadence, and the low gear is low enough to climb the hills near my home with nothing heavier than a pannier of groceries. Thus, this is a pretty good range for riding around home without a load.

But when I load it up with a big pile of camping gear, food for several days, etc., I use the 36T chainring which gives me a range of 16.2 to 85.1 gear inches. That is what I need for serious hill climbing with a heavy load. The lowest gear gives me a cadence of 72 at 3.5 mph which is the lowest speed that I can easily maintain vertical and directional stability. There have been some shallow downhills where I spun out and wished I had a higher gear. But, I would never want to give up the lowest gear for touring with a load. Thus, I am keeping this gearing for touring.

Bottom line, for me, your gearing would be great for touring but I would want something different for around town riding unladen.

In the photo I am using the 36T chainring, but have the 44T on the crankset in the outer position to serve the purpose of a bashguard.

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