Chrshv80

I have had my Salsa Marrakesh up 10% grades in Southern Indiana without too much trouble. The lowest gear with about a cadence of 80 was around 6 mph if I remember correctly.

acantor

When I find myself needing to replace the drive train on my bike -- which happens once or twice a decade -- I opt for smaller gears than I did the previous time. This evolution is, at least in part, due to the availability of components that didn't exist before. And with each change, climbing long and steep hills gets easier.

My gear set up over the last 15 years:

Prior to 2004: 24-38-50 and 14-32.
2004 - 2007: 24-36-48 and 12-34.
2007 - 2012: 22-36-48 and 12-34.
2012 to now: 22-36-48 and 12-36.

So my suggestion, given that you are starting afresh, is to opt for the lowest gears you can imagine and that are available! A few years ago, 11-40 cassettes became a thing... I would be tempted!

Tourist in MSN

It is possible to go overboard in the goal of lower gearing and get a gear that is too low.

When I built up my Rohloff bike, I had to decide what chainring(s) to buy for gearing. I know of several people that chose the lowest gearing that they could buy and got gearing that would be too low for me.

I decided that I wanted the lowest gearing I could get that would allow me to ride a minimum speed with the lowest cadence that was smooth without excessively pushing hard on the knees. The bike would have tires in the range of 40mm to 57mm on 26 inch wheels. I defined minimum speed as the slowest speed where I could maintain vertical and directional stability without too much difficulty with steering.

I went to a steep tall hill near home and rode up it several times, watched speed as close as I could. And decided that 3.5 mph was about as slow as I could go and maintain stability, any slower and my steering was excessive. And, on that hill, pedaled slow and fast, and tried to decide what a good minimum cadence for me was during hill climbing, decided that any cadence slower than 72 was too slow. And then calculated that at 3.5 mph with a cadence of 72 and with my wheel size, I needed a low gear of about 16.2 gear inches. And I then selected a chainring to use for touring based on that.

My point is that for me, if I had a gear that was lower that about 16.2, I would be spinning faster than necessary just to maintain that slowest speed.

No two cyclists are the same, I am not saying that my lowest gear of 16.2 is best for everyone, I am simply describing the process I went through to decide what I wanted for my lowest gear for touring.

For riding around home where I am familiar with the hills and my bike never has more weight than a pannier of groceries, I run higher gearing with a larger chainring because my low gearing for touring is so low that I spin out on the shallow downhills but with my higher around-town gearing I do not spin out on those hills near home.

djb

yup, low gearing does really come down to the combination of total bike weight, rider strength/fitness and terrain you'll encounter.
I still find that the age old recommendation of 20-100 gear inches is still a really good, real life useable range for most situations, perhaps even more so with it easier to have lighter tents etc (although probably outweighed by folks bringing more electronic stuff, chargers etc)

6 years ago or whatever when I took my old mtb with rear panniers only and handlebar bag (albeit heavy panniers) to Costa Rica and travelled around a bit, the 19in low was fine, but I immediately realized that with front panniers on and more stuff--which I knew I would be carrying to do longer Latin American trips--that lower gearing would be needed.

The 16.7 g.i on the bike I used for those trips was perfect, as was the mtb triple 44/32/22 , given the very mountainous terrain and regular very steep hills that happen in Latin American more than in other places.

but then the mtb crank on flat terrain is a bit low, but still ok, with a full load--but would be too low for a less heavy bike, and the common 48/36/26 would be great for most other touring uses (throw on a 24 or even 22 if needed)

so yup, touring bike gearing is certainly a product of what variables you are dealing with, and its been fun over the years figuring out what works better.

Bike Jedi

I am unable to post hyperlinks but google:

Cyclingabout(dot)com/custom-build-round-the-world-touring-bike-2019/

or remove the (dot) and replace appropriately.

The article is called "How Would I Custom Build A Round-The-World Touring Bike in 2019?"

The drive train setup is what you are looking for. I ride in very hilly conditions and it's what I am putting on a touring bike.

djb

My bike is basically this, except it's a 26in wheel frame (lower gearing and perhaps stronger wheels) and I put dropbars on it.
I wouldn't hesitate to take my bike anywhere in the world, maybe change the bars and tires, and good to go.

Cycle Tourist

It's not the bike it's the gears. If it has a triple crank, you can gear it low enough to make any hill easily climbable. What 25 lb. clunker were you on? I can eat a hearty lunch that would turn a 25 lb. bike into a 30 pounder.😅

Bike Jedi

Please explain this more? Lower gearing? Do you mean because it is a smaller wheel, on the same size gears, the physics changes and it makes it lower gearing by default? Or do you mean you literally have it lower geared, i.e. different than a 11-36 and lower than 22/30/40, or some other setup? I would like to understand what you are talking about please.

And is it safe to assume "stronger wheels" cause you are on 26" and smaller, so stronger in general?


What bars? Why?

If you could do things over again, would you still op for 26" wheels? Why or why not?

Thanks

What tires? Size exactly please

Thanks

djb

santa maria, lots of questions? (thats ok)
yes, smaller diameter wheels have lower gear inch compared to taller wheels with same cranks and cassettes
26 are maybe stronger than 700, but who knows, shorter spokes are in theory stronger
bars, if i were to be on lots of gravel and stuff, wider bars give more leverage and control at slow speeds
ya, Id stay with 26, or maybe not, but they work.

Bike Jedi

@djb Cool...thanks! Wanted to make sure we were on the same page and I understood what you were speaking about. Been lurking a long time and familiar with who you are from your posts and your name is more common to me on the site from doing such. So if I am asking, it's because it's important for me to understand or your opinion might matter to me, and because I respect your efforts in posts on the site. So thanks for letting me know.

You didn't mention...are you on a Troll?

djb

Thanks, but I'm just some regular Joe blow, with some experience more than others but also a lot less than others too.
Yup, troll. Good, competent bike.
The newer ones can take wider tires.

Re tires, depends on the conditions and stuff , and I don't have a ton of rough gravel road experience, but enough to know some tires would be better than others for given or potential terrain.

Crazy guy on a bike trip journals are great to get great tire recommendations for a given up

LeeG

I settled into San Francisco after touring up the coast on my bicycle in the ‘70’s. Your knee problem has nothing to do with riding a 25 lb bike. Or a 25 lb bike with a 30 lb load or a 20 lb bike with a 10 lb load or any weight bike. It has to do with how you are using your body assuming your seat is at the right position and your pedal placement is correct. Overuse injury isn’t a function of having a bike and gear weigh X lbs.

Ok, read your replies. You’re 25 and your reference for another bike is a friend who appears to be riding with less effort. You appear to ride 20-40 miles a week with occasional 80-100 mile hill day tours.

If you are hammering and not spinning you will eff your knees up. If you are blasting out into foggy mornings without warming up you will eff your knees up. If you are going at long hilly touring rides at the same effort as you do short fast day rides you will eff your knees up.

The problem isn’t the bike although a drop bar road bike is an improvement. If you don’t have cleated shoes consider them as this will help increase cadence, fluidity and power output while lowering peak stress on your knees.

It doesn’t sound like you need touring bike recommendations but bike training advice.

djb

Well put Lee

LeeG

I managed to injure my patellar tendon at age 23 skiing then did a fairly long and fast tour that summer. When I came back to Berkeley I got into racing shape albeit with a wonky left knee. If I warmed up very easy in the first 15 minutes and easy in the next 15 I was good. If I didn’t it would take another half hour or more to warm up. The Bay Area can have a significant range in temps where you could cross the Golden Gate in 55 degree fog then find yourself in 80 degrees in Fairfax then back to 60 on Hwy 1 which can be a factor in knee care. Me thinks the op needs to look at his total activity load and whether he is allowing for productive training cycles of stress and recovery or if he’s simply going as hard as he can when it feels good.

djb

Lee, Ive had similar experiences in my life. Buggered up a knee on my first fully loaded tour, too much load, too high gearing, didnt do any fully loaded rides beforehand, and to top it off, steep fricken hills and being too young and dumb to listen to my body----so the the original poster--listen, we can tell you stuff, from a couple of old geezers, but you probably wont listen, we didnt at your age....
Lee, also on another trip a few years down the road from my first, I had the load and gearing figured out, but going down the west coast Oregon and Cali, I experienced the range of temps you mentioned, and gave myself an achilles tendon injury from going too hard and cold temps--luckily it wasnt too bad and some rest had it recover quickly, but I learned my lesson of cold and proper clothing and not overdoing it. Everyone is diff, but to this day,my muscles and tendons always prefer hot rather than a bit too cold, and while its been great for the hot countries Ive toured through and handled it pretty good, I am a hell of a lot more careful now with cold, moreso as I get older but still a skinny bugger.

so ya, bottom line is that you pointed out some important points, I hope he gets more attentive to stuff, as we can injure ourselves when young, and if bad, it will carry on into older age, which sucks. (but again, when we are young, its common to think we will live forever and always get better after injury)