I hope it's ok if I weigh in here, I just bought a Quickbeam and I'm interested in this discussion.
In touring, I've found the low end to be the limitation and the dividing line between pain and pleasure. So much depends on your fitness, the terrain and the weight you will be carrying as well as your tolerance for walking instead of riding. If it was me (and it will be soon) I would pack my proposed gear, load up the bike and then try riding for the day in similar terrain. I'd then gear the bike based on the results of my "experiment." Looks to me like you are already geared pretty low with the 32/22. The stock cranks will accommodate rings down to a 34/24 and you have a total of about 8t in dropout adjustability to work with. So, the widest/lowest range you could get would be 34/26 with a 22t in back - that's about 42 and 32 gear inches. As a point of comparison, for my loaded touring on a geared bike, I shoot for a low of around 20" for long days with lots of hills although I find that I deal with most of the hills with gearing in the 30's (again, with a full touring load). It seems like you could certainly gear low enough to do the job while protecting your knees, as long as you pack light. Pack really light and you could gear higher so that you are not a spinning fool on the flats! I hope that's helpful. I'm looking forward to hearing about your tour. Dave On Aug 18, 12:24 pm, johnb <[email protected]> wrote: > Thoughts on gearing? I have a 20 and 22-tooth freewheel in back; > standard set-up in front. > > On Aug 17, 10:53 am, Bill Connell <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 8:23 PM, johnb<[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I am thnking about cycle across NC on it. Might have rocks in my head. > > > Nah, no rocks. Local rider Ken Yokanovich raced the TransIowa on his > > fixed Quickbeam (350 miles, 1/2 or more gravel). Load and gear right > > for the terrain and you'll be fine. > > > -- > > Bill Connell > > St. Paul, MN --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
