Originally Posted by
Doug64
He might do OK, but it might be his first and last long tour. Why not make it enjoyable for the kid, instead of a struggle. I've never wished for a higher gear on a touring bike, but at times I sure wished I had a lower one.
If this is his son's first long tour the best way to keep his interest in touring is to make the ride fun. Some of the approaches to Oregon's mountain passes are 45 miles of uphill. We have two passes starting uphill in our town at 500'. The first one tops out at about 4500', drops a bunch, then climbs to 5500'. Most Cascade passes are similar. The TA goes over the second pass from Eugene. There is an alternate route on the TA, the Old Mckenzie Hwy., but it is probably more climbing. You folks who have done the TA will remember it.
As another parent and rider who completely agrees with Doug on this, I can't emphasize to those here how important this is.
It's one thing as an adult saying for another adult that "the gearing will be fine" but already we are talking about a 30 gear inch or maaaaybe even 26g.i. and we are talking about a 13 yr old kid.
All I can say is that as a parent, I learned from my early touring mistakes so that with my kids, they had an enjoyable time, and a bike with low enough gearing is just going to increase the chance of having a good time.
Not having low enough gearing is never fun, and quite simply as Doug put it, make the experience a good one, and use your adult experience to avoid making it harder than it needs to be.
thanks Doug btw for being realistic and up front about this