Originally Posted by
wgscott
TRP hydraulic brakes, 11-speed (mtn) Microshift bar-end shifter/castration device, White Industries 46/30T crank, 11-36T Sram cassette, wheels borrowed from my gravel bike (this one takes tires up to 55mm). XT rd, GRX front derailleur, Redshift stem and suspension seatpost. Borrowed wheels are White Industries hubs and HED Belgium + rims. The rear is 32 spoke. (Is that enough for a loaded touring bike? -- I worry it is not). Tires are 38mm treaded Compass. I think I am going to get Tubus low-riders for the front.
My only thing would be figure out stem or seatpost. Having two things going in opposing directions is not good for fit and comfort. Both can be good things but you just have to pick which one you really want and which one you want to skip. Me I would probably stick with the Redshift stem and do a titanium seatpost.
My touring bike is 32h Paul RHUB (cassette that they stopped making because the bastardos at i9 stopped making the free hub he was using) laced to WTB Frequency CX and Sapim Strong spokes and the front is almost the same but with a SON hub so far no real issues but also I haven't had a good chance to do a lot of touring but have ridden it quite a bit loaded (usually groceries or commuting with way too much crap) and no issues.
I am about to put a similar wheelset on a new adventure/gravel bike I am building and intend on doing some bike packing and have no worries about those wheels. Most of my bikes use some variation of a 32h wheel because as a bigger person I just don't want failures and so far no issues on any of my bikes.
I am curious how the GRX front derailleur is working with the WI cranks as I am trying to figure out a derailleur for similar front gearing on the same cranks and haven't settled on anything yet?