Gearing for touring

I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. Recently, I used this
setup to do a ride of the east coast of Tasmania:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. I
confess to walking some of them.
The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T, and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to
put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. The 34 cog would
take that down to 22.2. A 26T ring would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

On 4/26/10 6:49 PM, steck wrote:
I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. Recently, I used this
setup to do a ride of the east coast of Tasmania:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. I
confess to walking some of them.
The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T, and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to
put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. The 34 cog would
take that down to 22.2. A 26T ring would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

Sorry can't tell: do you have a double or a triple chainring setup?

BC
triplet

In article
,
steck wrote:

I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. Recently, I used this setup to do a ride of the east coast
of Tasmania: http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. I
confess to walking some of them. The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T,
and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. The 34 cog would take that down to 22.2. A 26T ring
would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? Will 20.6 gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be
useless?

Take less stuff.

http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

On 26 Apr, 23:49, steck wrote:
I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. *When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. *Recently, I used this
setup to do a ride of the east coast of Tasmania:http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. *I
confess to walking some of them.
The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T, and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to
put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. *The 34 cog would
take that down to 22.2. *A 26T ring would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? *Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

The difference doesn't sound great and I know users of 22" gears.
Thinking of it at the other end of gearing, if I was using and
struggling with a 56 x13 then a 52x 13 could (I think should) (sorry,
would have, I dont go near those gears today) make all the
difference. You may want to look at other ways to improve
efficiency. Cheapest, but messy is to grease your chain. Simplest is
a spray grease, best is to warm up the chain in a grease bath. The
other major energy sapper is poor tyres. Get large section supple
tyres. Bouncy saddles do you no favours either. And position,
correct leg extension is most important in maximising energy
utilisation, along with this goes a correctly sized paiir of cranks.
Riders of average or below leg length can be hindered by the
'standard' 170mm cranks (sometimes even longer being fitted to an
average size machine.

On Apr 26, 6:49*pm, steck wrote:
I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. *When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. *Recently, I used this
setup to do a ride of the east coast of Tasmania:http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. *I
confess to walking some of them.
The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T, and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to
put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. *The 34 cog would
take that down to 22.2. *A 26T ring would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? *Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

Hi there.

How many teeth do your middle and outer front chain-rings have? You
may be able to get a lower gear by changing the inner front chain-ring
as long as your total no of teeth difference doesn't exceed the
capacity of your rear mech.

Cheers from Peter

On Apr 27, 10:13*am, bcdrums wrote:
Sorry can't tell: do you have a double or a triple chainring setup?

The current setup is 48/38/28 in front.

I might want to swap out the whole set for, say, 46/36/26. I almost
never use the
highest gears.

-- Paul

On Apr 26, 8:47*pm, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Apr 26, 6:49*pm, steck wrote:



I have a 2007 Bianchi Volpe. *When touring, I pull a Burley Nomad
trailer. *Recently, I used this
setup to do a ride of the east coast of Tasmania:http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/Tasmania2010.

It was a bit tough getting up some of those Tasmanian hills. *I
confess to walking some of them.
The Volpe's smallest ring is 28T, and the cassette is 11-32.

In anticipation of my next tour, I've ordered a new 11-34 cassette.
Question: is it worthwhile to
put in a smaller ring, say 26T?

With the current setup, the small ring and the big cog gives me 23.6
gear-inches. *The 34 cog would
take that down to 22.2. *A 26T ring would make that 20.6.

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? *Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

Hi there.

How many teeth do your middle and outer front chain-rings have? You
may be able to get a lower gear by changing the inner front chain-ring
as long as your total no of teeth difference doesn't exceed the
capacity of your rear mech.

That number doesn't really matter much. Nobody's going to be spinning
a 26-11, unless they're bonked out with heatstroke under the Tasmanian
sun, and at that point, chain sag is the least of ones worries.

steck wrote:
On Apr 27, 10:13 am, bcdrums wrote:
Sorry can't tell: do you have a double or a triple chainring setup?

The current setup is 48/38/28 in front.

I might want to swap out the whole set for, say, 46/36/26. I almost
never use the
highest gears.

Being one of your lazier cyclists, I feel that the tallest gears are
suitable only for going downhill when gravity provides a nice assist
anyway, and are therefore useless. I spend 95% of the time on the middle
chainring. I confess that on my bikes, all with triples, I don't use the
largest chainring at all. I view it as a support for the middle ring. It
also performs the function of facade, making the bike appear to be owned
by someone who goes fast, since it would be clear to even the most
casual observer that I am a slug if the largest ring was my middle ring.
I could easily switch to a double, if I could find cheap doubles geared
like my present middle + inner, and inexpensive clicky thumbshifters
with two positions on the left and eight on the right.

[realizing that he's contributed nothing of interest or utility to the
thread he decides that he'd best be moving on now]

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

steck wrote:
snip

My question, differently phrased: Will 22.2 gear-inches be noticeably
easier than 23.6? Will 20.6
gear-inches be so absurdly low as to be useless?

-- Paul

20.6" gearing at a moderate 80 rpm will give you 4.9 mph (7.9 kph), a
very fast walk or very slow run. Balancing is still easy at this speed.
It's a low gear, but not useless for a loaded bike on steep hills.

Dave Lehnen

steck wrote:

The current setup is 48/38/28 in front.

I might want to swap out the whole set for, say, 46/36/26. *I almost
never use the
highest gears.

Once you've fitted a cassette with a 34t big end, I recommend changing
out only the inner ring for a 24t ring.

That will probably exceed the wrap capacity of your rear derailleur,
the vertical range of your front derailleur, or both. But if you have
the good sense to stay out of the small/small combinations, you'll be
fine.

Shimano now makes a 12-36 9-speed cassette, which would give you a
sightly more useful gear at both ends of the range.

Chalo