Originally Posted by
elcruxio
A bit late to the party but no matter.
I've gone from Vienna to lake Garda so not sure how much overlap of routes there's going to be. But with lots of weight I feel you really can't go too low with gearing. I think I had a 11-34 cassette with a 22-24-44 crankset and would not have frowned at a 11-36 on some of the steeper climbs.
As for not needing the high end of the triple, I feel that coasting forever if boring. Also spinning out on tailwinds sucks. With a 44 big ring that doesn't really happen.
I've tried a wide double for touring and frankly I did not like it. The large jump between big and small chainring is jarring and I felt like I was constantly cross chaining trying to find a proper gear. My road bike has a wide double but with no luggage it doesn't really matter all that much.
Ive toured on a bike with a 50/39/30 converted to 5039/26 and have ridden/toured in the past a lot on a 50/40/24---so a 13t jump and 16t jump between chainrings most commonly used.
My experience is similar, and while shifting up a few gears when going down to the smaller ring is fairly easy and doesnt bug me, if you have to do it often, it can be annoying a bit.
The point about this being more of an issue with a loaded bike is important, so do keep this in mind chris in germany. Maybe for you its not an issue, and also doubles probably dont have that "cross-chainng" feel to them like a triple does, so I guess see how it feels in real life.
personally, I find when riding loaded, a 40t ring is a bit big, but then thats me and also more modern drivetrains handle everything better , crosschaining etc, so I guess you can just set the bike up with the tiagra shifters and see how it is when riding with all the stuff you plan to take.