Yan 

I have a 36/11 high gear on my 700c touring bike, which I find more than high enough. In fact I almost never use this gear. I think you'll be fine as long as you don't mind coasting down steep hills.

djb

whenever this topic comes up, in my mind it always comes back to the whole topic of drinking the kool-aid so to speak, that triples are old fashioned, hard to setup, to use and are a waste of a few grams.....

cyccommute 

You guys must just hate gravity! When things point downhill, I want to go as fast as I can. I'll spin at 120 rpm to get up to around 40 and then tuck to get it up higher. I hate coasting!

djb

in this regard, I am exactly the same, if the conditions warrant it, I just can't stop myself.

but in fairness, for this fellows question, he is going to use the bike mostly offroad and such, and anyway, the limitations of a double are always going to come into play at some point.

John N

To each their own.

rifraf

OP,
I bet you're fine with those ratios.

I run my Ogre 29er with Rohloff with 34T on the front chainring and 18T ring on the hub.

Sheldon suggests its approx 15.4 to 81 gear inches.

Being someone whose happy to coast downhill for the most part, my highest gears are never used.

Cyccommute is correct in that only you can decide what works for you.

I spin approximately 90 to 98 rpm as much as possible.

Ignore the old chestnut from people who will try to convince you that its too low and too slow to utilise such a low gear.

My old knees are too shot for low rpm grinding

Yan 

FYI you'll reach the end of your touring day faster if you coast down hills, paradoxically.

Air resistance increases at the square of speed. Powering downhill will net you minimal time gains despite maximum effort. Resting on downhills allows you to save your legs for when your effort will actually make a difference: on the flat or when climbing.

I prefer to get to the end of my day as quickly as possible, therefore I coast on downhills. It's all about going fast.

fietsbob

I was fine with a 50:14 in a 700c wheel . was my loaded tour bike
for a decade + of international tours.
(freewheels; 13_34 more common than the 14t) 24:34 low.

using a R'off 26" ; 16 : 38 on my WTR. now.

You can build a cassette rear wheel, it can be on a hub
with an internal gear 3 speed + cassette..

As Sturmey Archer is the remaining source of these hybrid hubs, the internal gears are the classic AW3

0.75, 1:1, 1.33 ..






....

79pmooney

I haven't loaded toured in may years and have limited experience going down mountains loaded. (I have ridden down Mt Diablo with gear for overnight stealth camping.) But I have ridden down enough serious descents to know I want a big gear so I can pedal to quiet the bike should that be needed. 53-13, the old high gear standard, is barely enough. 52-12 is better.

I an a huge fan of wide triples for touring. (In fact, for any serious mountain riding on any derailleur bike.) 53 (or 520/42/28 (or 26) is my default go to with a FW or cassette appropriate for the load and terrain.

Ben

J.Higgins 

Its easy to let yourself become a victim to gravity, but hate it? No. One of the ten laws of karma is to not dwell upon things of which you have no con...trol...

GamblerGORD53

NO I wasn't fully loaded. LOL NO camping gear. Fancy motels with 10 days at relatives homes.
I looked at the chart again and I actually have only 112.6 GI high. No wonder it was so easy, ha. If the hill goes for a mile+, sure I will be coasting over 30 mph in the middle at least. But I make damn sure I get full speed with full power before I hit the bottom and milk the momentum for all it's worth. Sure helps me get to the end sooner. But darn, it seemed like almost every time somebody passed me I was stopped taking a picture.
Only one time I was trying to ride with a guy. Had a hybrid with bungee fork and a full load. He had the look and gear of a serious cyclist, but couldn't even avg. 10 mph and disappeared behind me. LOL
In Sandpoint, I talked to an old guy like me, he had an e-motor front hub to get up hills. Battery was 9 lbs and still he had 40 lbs less than me. So he was averaging over 60 miles a day and waking up at 3 AM to beat the heat. I have a pic of 2 tall young guys with SS, saw them leaving Kicking Horse pass.

My SA 3 has 88.6 GI LOL. It wizzes at 29 mph. My SA 5w has 116 GI, that has done 45.8 mph.

linus

I do hit 80kph often on downhill so I can't imagine running out of gear under 105GI. That will be frustrating.

jefnvk

No. It is too low for me. I have 82 on one of my bikes, it is getting bumped up into the mid-90s when I get around to installing the new cassette and shifters (going from 7 to 9 speed at the same time)

For 95% of my riding, low 80's is plenty, but just like the low end, when I want higher, it is painful to not have it. It gets used enough for me to have on the bike. For me personally, anything over 100 or so is the cutoff, but this is all to my preference. You'll probably find threads of mine from setting up the Iceland bike saying that I thought 78-82 was enough if you really wanted to, and as I;ve traveled more, I've realized that was not the correct conclusion.

And tire size doesn't matter when it comes to GI. A GI is a GI, no matter how big or small the wheel is.

djb

I agree wholeheartedly with your statements, the thing is sometimes it just plain feels good to get some speed up and go for a new top speed thing, I've always been like this, did it with cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
The other thing I also enjoy riding in mountains is pedaling up to my max speed before I spin out (but not with max effort, just going with the flow and helping getting it going) and then also going around corners really fast. Again, Ive always been like that and get off on it.

but yes, there are times when its better to conserve energy, but Ive biked a lot in mountains and a small spurt to get up to your spinout speed isnt a big deal, not for me anyway, as long as it isnt too prolonged, because as you say, you're fighting against all the wind resistance.
I have found over lots of trips, that with four panniers and a handlebar bag, on moderate grades, its hard to get my bike past 60 or 70kph anyway, there is so much sail area going on.
On unloaded bikes, Im comfortable doing the sit on the toptube tuck if the conditions warrant it, and you really notice a speed increase past about 60k as the frontal area is so much less than being seated normally.

Trevtassie

I like to pedal down hill with a little resistance so I don't get lead legs. So on my Rohloff I now have a 17 rear with 32 and 48 front and a derailleur. Been times I've needed on the flats too, strong tailwind. I'll probably get an ATS speed drive next with a 19 -32 set up. Bit neater looking than having a front and rear derailleur on an IGH.

cyccommute 

Nope. Sorry but just nope. The amount of energy I expend by pedaling up to speed on a downhill pales in comparison to the amount of energy expended on the next uphill. I'm not talking about "maximum effort" either. I've already expended maximum effort climbing the hill. Gravity is giving me a boost and I'm just taking advantage of it.

Coasting down hills after a strenuous climb hurts way more when you reach the next climb because lactic acid build up and shortens the muscle fibers in your legs. When you need those muscles...and you will..., the fibers are contracted and don't want to move again. It hurts a whole lot and it's worse if you've spent a long time coasting. Being able to have a bit of resistance while pedaling won't wear you done as much and keeps the muscles from tightening up.

I'm also not talking about short hills here. I'm talking about miles long descents of which there is an abundance in my area and of which I've encountered hundreds while touring. It's even worse for off-road touring because I coast a lot more actively than I do on pavement. By that I mean that on-road, I coast relatively relaxed. My feet are parallel to the ground but I usually have more weight on the saddle (not a lot but more). Off-road, my feet are parallel to the ground but there's a lot more tension in my legs because I'm using them to "spring" my ride. As the bike hits potholes and rocks, my legs are tense and flexing at the same time. My legs get fatigued easily and having a higher gear with a bit of resistance while pedaling allows me to work some of that fatigue out. Spinning at high rpms just doesn't do the same thing.

While I don't agree that coasting saves much energy, I do agree with your statement. Part of the reason I ride is the thrill. Coasting just isn't a thrilling as going faster.

One more point on off-road speed. Being able to pedal to a faster speed helps with a lot of problems you encounter while off-road touring. Momentum is your friend (usually) and going faster on washboard or even over rock gardens improves the ride. The difference in speed between a 80" gear and a 110" gear isn't all that much...about 10mph...but the ride is smoother at a higher speed.

djb

and this is a bit of a tangent, but cycco touches on it--when going over rough terrain, there are times when its nice to be a higher gear than normal, as the slower cadence gives your legs something to force more against, and even if seated, this takes some weight off your hands and butt, and it settles the bike going over the rough stuff---Paris Roubaix guys and cyclocross riders do this.
And especially if standing over rough stuff, a higher gear pedaling smooths stuff out also, I do this all the time on my commute, and shift back down as soon as I am seated again and past the rough stuff (but this is a general statement, not necessarily one about a X top gear )

---but again, to be fair, all of this talk may not apply to how NControl rides, and he probably isnt riding down miles long west coast downhills.

Control, in the end, you have to figure out what works for you, and using your Ogre should give you good feedback and a reference of "Oh, I wish I could shift up a gear or two more.." or whatever

52telecaster

I could live with 84 inches. 90 is all I really need even in town. Now I am 62... ymmv.

Timequake

So are divorce lawyers.

J.Higgins 

That's humor! I'm 60, and the wife and I have been together since childhood.

Abu Mahendra

Yes, for touring, it's fine. You want to err on the side of lower lows rather than higher highs.

DeadGrandpa

Please elaborate on the other nine LOK. A new thread, please.

TiHabanero

Triple cranks are made for this reason. You can have it all with a triple.

J.Higgins 

Sent you an email, Mike.

boomhauer

This is the reason you want something more than 100 inches if you are in the saddle 8+ hrs per day.
Neither of my bikes has a high enough gear for super slow cadence and it's frustrating when I want to stand on the pedals ....if only to stretch our my back muscles.