djb

is your bike one of those rei ones? Not many bikes come with mtb triples. I love my 44 32 22 on my touring bike and don't mind the jumps on my 9 spd 11-34, although a tighter cassette is always nice to ride with close ratios. My bike is a 26in bike so I spin out at just over 50k with my 44-11, but that's ok,I can live with that and get up to 70 or 80 the few chances I can.
I do have a 700 bike with a 34 midring and it does work great.

stardognine

This is very close to where I’m headed, too. I just scored an old LX crankset in a lot of good XT parts. The pedal hole was stripped on the drive side, but I definitely grabbed the chainrings. Got a 22t granny & 32t middle ring, and will have a 38t 44t & 48t to play with, for a largey. 😎

Coming from 28-38-48, that’s a nice change, for touring. 👍

djb

With any setup, you want to do a gear inch chart and make sure a given setup isn't reproducing the same numbers in both chainrings.kinda pointless if a bunch of recurring gear inches are there.

djb

With any setup, you want to do a gear inch chart and make sure a given setup isn't reproducing the same numbers in both chainrings.kinda pointless if a bunch of recurring gear inches are there.

LeeG

switching out the 50 t ring for 44 would suffice. Is this a 26” or 700c LHT? Maybe go to 46t for the 26” version. Unless you’re carrying insane loads a 34/34 low gear should suffice..

robow

I sure wouldn't want to ride loaded with a low of only 34x34 unless the terrain was as flat as a pancake and/or no head winds. YMMV

djb

34/34 is 25 to 27g.i. low, not very low at all for loaded touring, not for me anyway

saddlesores

i'd seriously reconsider that gearing. if you ever plan to carry more than 20 pounds,
ride in hilly terrain, or experience the effects of aging, a 15-17" gear would be preferred.

sure, you could try to tough it out with a 26" gear, tell yourself "pain is only weakness
leaving the body," but your touring will be less enjoyable and you risk knee injury.

go with the little gears..........24/34, at least for now. get some more experience, then
consider upping the low range.

djb

From experience, using lower gears when needed actually takes less out of you, so you'll be stronger overall during the whole day

sloar 

No touring plans until next year, so for now I’m leaving it as is. Before next spring it will have a triple with barend shifters. I do want to skinny up the tires with some 1.5’s though.

Leebo

1:1 is not a low for me. My low on my Krampus is 22/46. Good stuff. Yes heavy bike/load and steep New England hills.

Tourist in MSN

My rando bike has a 30T small chainring and 32T biggest sprocket, since that bike rarely carries more than a handlebar bag, rain gear and some water bottles, as a lowest gear that works for me but I would not want to tour on it. That lowest gear is 25.1 gear inches.

My deraillleur touring bikes have a 24T smallest chainring and 32T biggest sprocket. The 26 inch bike as a 19.3 gear inch low gear, the 700c bike has a 20.7 gear inch low gear. I would not want to have a higher lowest gear than that for a loaded touring bike.

My Rohloff expedition bike has a low gear of 16.2 gear inches. With that, a speed of 3.5 mph is at a cadence of 72 rpm which is about right for me when I want to climb at my slowest pace while maintaining balance.

Sign says 13 percent grade for the next 4km. And, it was that steep for that distance too.

djb

What is an acceptable low really depends on the actual total bike weight along with the steepness and length of climbs, oh and if you are a normal average rider. Even 30 years ago a 25 great inch low was just too high to me for touring, so the old view that a "one to one" low gear is ample for touring is, in my opinion, simply updated and simply wrong (and I've always felt, connected to a roadies view of what is acceptable and a large touch of "wimpiness" HTFU view as well).

LeeG

You’re right. I really wasn’t thinking this out well and my bike here in the hills is a Rivendell Clem with a 24/36 front and 11-36 rear and I’m using that low gear. I think the op needs to figure out his low gear needs.

djb

in the end, on a bike that one may use for touring, there really is. no big downside to having low gearing. Sure, if you ride the bike nearly always unloaded then you can put a really tight cassette on and it will be a lot more fun to ride fast because you'll have nice small jumps between shifts, and riding fast , ie 30, 35, 40kph its great to keep the cadence right on the money.
Touring though really does mean our average speed is a lot slower, and its pretty darn rare to be able to hold a speed over 25kph, so in the end, having low gears which nearly always means a wider cassette, doesnt really make a big difference in your day.
what will make a difference in your day is lugging down your knees and legs struggling with slow cadence and a heavy bike going up hills, and sometimes uphills that can last a long time.

As you say Lee, the person needs to figure out his needs, but I do figure its good for us to recommend realistic touring bike low gearing, just so he doesnt have to make the same mistake a lot of us made with not low enough gearing. But you're right, he needs to figure out his situation and adjust from there.
cheers

BoraxKid

Yes, my touring bike is REI house brand (Randonee) that I bought about 8 years ago. It was my first new bike since I was a kid. They really did a Frankenstein job with the drivetrain specs: Shimano MTB cranks, gears, & derailers, paired to SRAM bar-end shifters! What madness!

I've never had any trouble shifting, but I also stay up to date on my maintenance. I'm happy with it, and that's all that matters.

BoraxKid

I agree with this take. I think is 1:1 is low for a road bike, but on a touring bike, that's not nearly low enough. I would think something in the 0.65-0.80 range would make sense as a bottom gear for most touring applications.

djb

ya, I remember those bikes (not here, Im in Canada) as they were very rare for a touring bike to come with a mtb crank, the only one I can recall stock.
re cassettes, I dont know if they still make the 10 speed 12-30, but it has a nice 12,13,14,15 close bunch, then kinda normal jumps after. Its basically like one of my fav 9 spd cassette, 12-27 but with the 30 added on top. I have a feeling the 12-30 isnt around anymore, seems to me that nearly all cassettes are 11-whatever, but could be wrong. Starting at 12 basically gives you another 1 tooth diff jump compared to the 11 (I think) which really depends on if you need or want the 11t.

Tourist in MSN

If it works, what is the complaint?

On one of my derailleur touring bikes, I am running Shimano rear hub, Sram cassette, Shimano rear derailleur, KMC chain, Campy crankset, Origin8 bottom bracket, Campy front deraileur, Shimano bar end shifters. It does everything I want it to do. A lot of the older stuff can be mixed without any problem.

sloar 

The reason I asked for gearing advise is because I live in an extremely flat area, so I don’t have the opportunity to experiment. I want to have my bike ready for when I do encounter steep long hilly roads.

BoraxKid

Yeah, I understand that mechanically it's all compatible, but for some people, mixing brands is like wearing a Nike T-shirt with your Addidas Superstars: incredibly gauche. Thankfully, I am not one of those people.

djb

Funny. I suspect as a general rule, tourers aren't either, but one never knows....

Tourist in MSN

Is there sufficient demand for a style or fashion forum where people can debate which components are cool and which suggest lower class? Probably not.

Doug64

This is the drivetrain I have put on 6 touring bikes: 11-34 9 spd. cassette, Shimano LX rear derailleur, Tiagra 4503 front derailleur, Sugino DX 500 44/36/22 mtn crankset. Shimano Tiagra shifters, and a 105 mm bottom bracket to keep a 46 mm chainline. It works like a charm.

Actually, it has been used on 7 touring bike. I replaced (warranty) the frame on this 2007 Bianchi Volpe when it cracked and put all the parts on the new 2013 frame.



The same setup on a LHT.

fietsbob

Perhaps if set on 2 , by 10 v cassette a 1 by 10 centered chainline, with one of those big low gear cog cassettes,
... and a granny gear to take up where that lowest ratio leaves off ...

riding around locally ignore the small ring is even there..