Touring/audax gear selection

when taking weight, distance and terrain into consideration, what gear choice do you go for?

fixed, SS, or geared.

when i used to ride SS on an old heavy viscount with around 6KG, i happily rode Cornwall, Devon and Wales on 60", however it was pretty tough going and with more geared experience since i would probably go lower now. somthing like 52/3".

ive been geared riding with a 34/50 11/23 double recently and 5kg on a light bike. im always in the 34, either at the bottom of the cassette for climbing, or right at the top for flat riding. the big ring only gets used occasionally on a long downhill. not ideal.

I run a MTB triple on the front and a MTB 8 cassette on the back of my Galaxy. Works fine - only when unloaded do I sometimes wish for a higher top end, but not often.

ive been geared riding with a 34/50 11/23 double recently and 5kg on a light bike. im always in the 34, either at the bottom of the cassette for climbing, or right at the top for flat riding. the big ring only gets used occasionally on a long downhill. not ideal.

Get a 12-25 or a 13-26 or something like that.

46 x 18 = 67.5" on 23C tyres if its a flat ride go up to a mid seventy

11-28 on rear is a nice change

• with a bigger sprocket you can use the big ring more plus some lower gears for the real hills.
  
  

one copmplaint i heard about compacts is that the most used gears are the most crossed gears and that you find yourself changing up and down the big ring like some old half step affair.

48/38/28
11-28 (or even 11-30)
is what i use - and i'll use the whole range around here (in the peaks)

the 11 is important over the 12t on rear - it makes a big difference in your top gear.

you want to ride fixed on the hills?

http://www.lfgss.com/post1693540-35558.html

http://www.lfgss.com/post1693543-35559.html

yeah i do have problem with switching between rings. often i only want to go one gear bigger but end up on the big ring, where i only have larger gears to select so end up back on the small ring again.
im thinking of trying smaller rings like 30/44 so i get more use out each ring at either extremes. i could just get a triple :s

dont really like wide ratio gears on the road. causes to much cadence change to be efficient or comfortable for me.

im talking about gears alot, but i am interested is FG/SS as well as ive done alot of long rides in the past.

yeah i do have problem with switching between rings. often i only want to go one gear bigger but end up on the big ring, where i only have larger gears to select so end up back on the small ring again.

Get a triple with middle between your two current front rings. Done.

if you're that dialed in you're worried about you cadence consider either alpine block (mega range style - ) or middle and large ring close sizes (half step style ) or both

both (and more) explained very well here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-theory.html

ive been geared riding with a 34/50 11/23 double recently and 5kg
on a light bike. im always in the 34, either at the bottom of the cassette
for climbing, or right at the top for flat riding. the big ring only gets
used occasionally on a long downhill. not ideal.

I use 34/50 12/25 on both my audax and my race bike. Occasionally I pull out the 16 and stick a 28 to get 12/28 on the audax, and every so often I think about replacing thr 12/25 cassette with an 11/23 on the race bike. In both cases though I use the big most of the time and the 34 only for uphills.

So, I'd agree with domyracer, replace your cassette with a 13/29 (or whatever appropriate given the manufacturer and model, 12/27, 12/28, etc). You'll hopefully find the big ring becomes usable for most duties and plenty of scope on the little ring for the steepest climbs. Its also a much easier option than changing the crank to fit something smaller than a 50, or going triple.

jon

You could try a 48/34 compact with a wider-range cassette. Should give you the mid-range gears you're after.