Cupcakes' Surly Cross Check

Man alive, this gearing stuff is confusing. Ed, could you clarify on the 8-speed = bigger jump part? How detrimental is that when carrying stuff? I'm hating spinning so much and not going anywhere.

Sorry Cakes, I'm derailing things on your thread a bit.

I don't mind at all so no worries.

As for the ratios I would imagine its down to personal preference mostly, in terms of what is 'too spinny' or ' too big a jump between sprockets'. FWIW I think the idea of a triple with an 11-25 cassette sounds very wise. Not for me though as I wanted the narrowness of a road chainset. And also to be able to use my existing shifters. Everything is a compromise to some extent.