happyriding: I've never tried a wide range double for touring but that won't stop me from giving an opinion. Even with the 12-36 9 speed (probably an excellent choice; I use a 13-32 8 speed & another lower can't hurt), I would want a smaller ring than 30 for touring. There are too many unknowns such as gradient, length of climb, weather, wind, road surface, how long you're riding that day (some days get longer than planned) when touring to say "I'll never need a gear lower than xx". My granny is 24 x 32 and that's barely walking speed but it gets used on occasion.
The other issue is front shifting. 10-12 teeth differences shift well, don't need a lot of attention, and don't often don't require another shift at the back. That's why you find touring triples with 24-36-48, 24-34-44, etc. ring combos. Yes, you get lots of duplicates. No, you won't have "27 speeds". But you can have a 20" low & a 100" high with reliable shifting & not a lot of double shifts. BTW, you will need the 20" low a lot more than the 100" high when carrying a load. Steve's got a good idea with the 20 lbs of rocks. Everyone is surprised at how their high performance road bike changes character when it's required to carry its own weight in payload. Then think about doubling that. That's touring. dougP On Apr 21, 4:11 pm, happyriding <[email protected]> wrote: > Good point about constantly needing the in between gears. The problem > is I don't know where that is for a touring bike. I only have a road > bike, which is set up with a 53x39 and 13-29, which works well for me > in all types of terrain. > > I was thinking about the possibility of coupling the pending Velo > Orange Gran Cru crank ($125), which is a 46x30 double, with a > Rivendell/Shimano 12-36 9 speed cassette. That would result in a > lower top end than a 53x13 (110.1 v. 103.5). > > Any comments on whether that is practical? Are doubles just not used > for touring bikes? > > Thanks. > > -- > 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 > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- 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.
