Originally Posted by
CanadaWriter
This math is not my strong point. But I guess I get the idea: more teeth on the chainwheel results in lower ability to handle hills.
yeah, more or less...A 55T chainwheel raises your low end to 34GI. This is roughly the same low end as on road bikes (which are light and carry no extraneous loads), not what one would want for loaded touring.
as i said before, your gearing now is not bad, it's quite decent, but it could be a bit better. however, the marginal gain from swapping to a 11-36T cogset is likely not worth the trouble and expense (a switch to 9- or 10-speed).
There are hacks to get a 36T cog on an 8-speed cogset, but these are a bit complicated.