Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Sadly full group sets are rare in touring. Shimano sort of comes a little close with the T8000 Trekking gruppo but mostly that is found in Europe and is flat bar so you would need to use a different shifter or adapters for drop bar.
There were full(ish) groups for touring bikes in the 80s. They got used on mountain bikes. Shimano and SRAM really screwed the pooch when they decided to change everything. Shimano going to Dynasys was just stupid and SRAM’s fascination with 1x drives me up the wall. I have 9 and 10 speed systems in both brands and I really like the way SRAM works but I’m not going to 1x.
That said, the lack of a coherent group for either I see as a plus. I push the limits when it comes to gearing range and being able to mix and match enables me to do things with gearing that Shimano never envisioned.
Personally though I would go with a 2X11 (or maybe 12) similar set up as above but ditch the triple and use a White Industries (or other crank with customizable chainrings) and a wide range cassette. You may not get quite as low of a gear and not as high but you can get a pretty close range. I am planning a 44-30 with an 11-42 out back and that does get me most of my triple that I need most of the time and honestly for the bike it is going on it plenty and if I needed more I could do a 28 at the front or 11-46 at the back and be fine.
Although it’s hardly a news flash, I really hate wide range doubles. Yes, they have the range of a triple but they have a giant hole in the middle of the range that requires a lot of jiggering after a shift between rings to get the gear you want. It’s all herky jerky where a triple is nice and smooth. It’s almost like the people who design 2x systems have not idea how gears work on a bike.
I’d stick with the triple, use a 9 or 10 speed, and forgo that extra gear or two. The gearing is tighter and more useful over a wider range of terrain.