[Closed] Touring bike gearing?

Are you sure the existing crankest isn't 39-54?

A [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/de/en/shimano-105-5750-compact-10sp-chainset/rp-prod50444 ]road compact[/url] would be 34-50, 34-54 sounds like far too big a jump.

Triple for touring

If you're starting with the double shifters, how about an MTB double chainset in 40.28 or 38.26 or 38.24 like this:

[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m615-10-speed-double-chainset/rp-prod108774 ]http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m615-10-speed-double-chainset/rp-prod108774[/url]. Use a roadie front mech.

Then out the back, a 11-36 cassette, using a long cage 9 speed MTB mech which is compatible with roadie 10 speed shifters.

If you want a faster gear for when you're unloaded, go for a triple, the trekking versions of MTB stuff are a god place to start.
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m610-10-speed-triple-chainset/rp-prod106873 ]http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m610-10-speed-triple-chainset/rp-prod106873[/url]

I have 34-50 and 12-30 on my Croix De Fer. not enough gears for the other weekend touring on Mull with panniers

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I like a triple (24-36-46 / 12-28), I guess a double might work OK though it is nice to have high gears if you have long alpine descents to do.

Not sure what mech you'd use on an xt triple that would work with a road sti, mtb mechs use longer cable pull IIRC.

Sorry, she has a 34-50 chain set.

Will a roadie front mech work with the smaller chainrings of an mtb double? Is the cage shape ok?

I'm not so worried about high gears. Coming from mtb with wide range cassettes and fewer chainrings seems more sensible to me.

I have the 48/36/26 XT trekking chainset running with 105 STIs and the 105 triple front mech. No problem with capacity, just had to get the BB spacers just right on mine to reach out far enough for the big ring and at the same time not having to butcher the mudguard for when it's in the granny ring.

I would go with a road triple, it is a lot nicer to be able to find a gear to fit your cadence, rather than changing your rhythm to match your gears when touring. Wide range cassettes are really a bit pants.

Go 11-36 at the back with your double front and 10-spd rear shifter. Use a 9-spd MTB rear mech to get the right cake pull to mech movement ratio.

My Gryphon which is set up for touring / pannier end commuting is running
XT cranks with 50, 34 rings
CX70 cyclocross front mech
10spd XT 11-36 cassette
9 spd XT rear mech
105 shifters 10spd, double front

The front mech and cranks thing becomes easier if you go road based, but I needed the MTB cranks for the bottom bracket and chain stay clearance.

How do you folk feel about 8 or 9 speed then if I was to run a triple with a close ratio cassette? seems like the advantage of 10 speed is those wide ratio cassettes.

Aha, cyclocross mech, that's a good idea. How does your front shiftin work IGM? Can you just space the mtb cranks towards the NDS to get the right chain line?

i have a 9speed compact triple on my vaya with a 11-34t cassette. crazy wide range of gears but too big a jump between the rear gears for road work (it was the only 9speed cassette i had spare at the time and i'm running an xt mtb mech anyway) - intend to go to a 11-28t rear when it comes to new chain/cassette time. triple 9speed shifters were reasonably cheap at merlin when i got mine, couldn't see any real advantage to pay more for 10speed stuff at the time as i had enough 9speed stuff to complete already

http://www.middleburn.co.uk/spider-road-incey-11058bcd-double

Middleburn cranks with wider / lower geared rings? I was looking for a slightly lower than road compact with a 11-25 or 11-28 at the back and ended up with a RS7 double with the right ratios for me rather than mess about mixing Shimano 10s road and MTB stuff, odd chainlines etc. SRAM 10s is cross-compatible still.

With a bit of bodging, I put an mtb triple crank set on my bike to replace the road double (50/39) - I just use the middle and inner rings and currently have them at 42/28 with a 11-32 cassette. Works nicely and gives me all the range I need. On a loaded touring bike, I think the 50/11 top gear most come with is useless - downhills are for coasting!

Jameso - thanks for pointin out Middleburn, I hadn't thought of that at all. I like the idea of a closer ratio cassette with very wide chainring range. Do you have that setup with a standard road double front mech?

Aha, cyclocross mech, that's a good idea. How does your front shiftin work IGM? Can you just space the mtb cranks towards the NDS to get the right chain line?

Actually because the Gryphon is a 29er MTB frame, the XT crank gives the right chain line (although I think I ran the extra BB spacer on the non-drive side to let the big ring get further over on the cassette).

The CX mech gave a better cage profile for the 50-34 than a pure road or MTB mech - a trekking mech would probably be pretty good too, but the CX mech takes up a lot less room behind the seat tube and gives better tyre clearance.

Crank option.

How about a [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-105-cx50-cyclocross-double-10sp-chainset/rp-prod70118?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gclid=COSu95Kv8r4CFUbkwgodZqUAqA&gclsrc=aw.ds ]48-36 CX crank?[/url]

You could change the 36 for some thing smaller if needs be

I like the idea of a closer ratio cassette with very wide chainring range.

The problem with that is when you change at the front, you then have to change 2 or 3 cogs at the back to correct the massive jump in gearing at the front, not a particular problem if you are crestiing a hill and picking up speed, but if you have just hit a steep bit and are dropping gears, you lose all momentum while you get everything sorted out.

The best solution really is a road triple and either 8 or 9 speed 11-28 at the back, and unless you are hoping to bodge a solution with pre existing parts, then doing anything else is just [s]****ing around for no reason[/s] a bit of a compromise.

What is on the bike now?

There is nothing on the bike right now, I'm only just building it up now. I have been given some 105 10speed double STI levers, I like the idea of not having to buy other expensive STIs...

If that's what you have then...

Compact double chain set, 11-36 10-spd XT rear, 9-spd XT rear mech (to get the 41 tooth capacity), road double front mech (might have to be Shimano)
Deore if XT is too posh.
34x36 should get you up most stuff.

10 speed 105 STI is perfect for the rear, I run 11-32 with a 9sp XT mech on 700c wheels with 32s.
If you're mortal like me then low gearing (20-22") is the priority. Top end speed is not important for touring.
I had a double front changer, flogged it cos I wanted (needed?) a triple. I use an old LX mtb front mech with a downtube friction shifter. No compatibility issues and I can trim the mech without the modern miracle of electricity.

Do as igm says,I've just done exactly that to my bike, though not xt cos I ain't that posh. I've just come back from a test ride, all loaded up, getting ready for weekend mini tour, and it performs brilliantly. I gave it a few hills to cope with and all was fine, I'm not saying its as good as out and out tour gears, but I think it would have to be quite a severe hill to be off and pushing.

If you're touring loaded in hilly areas, you can't go too low. I use a triple with a smallest chain ring of either 24 or 22 (20 on the tandem) mated to an 11/34 9 speed cassette. I use 9 speed bar ends rather than expensive (and complex/potentially fragile) brifters.

If it's for touring, set it up for touring. If for roadying, set it up for that. Trying to combine them will just compromise one or both IME.

This post has come just at the right time for me. I've also got a CdF with 50/34 and 11-32 and strongly suspect that if I load it up with panniers and touring stuff I'd struggle to get up hills. Researching t'internet came up with a bewildering choice of options. My cunning strategy soon changed to seeing what Spa cycles put on their steel tourer (48/38/28 and 11-32) and think about copying that 🙂

Alternatively I did come across someone opting for a double up front (40/28) and 11-28 cassette which might be a cheaper option.

I don't think 28 front/32 rear is low enough for loaded touring in proper hilly terrain. You might think you'll just tough it out but if you have to do this coupled with long miles day after day, you'll be shagged.

Do you have that setup with a standard road double front mech?

Boblo - I might have to go smaller at the front then or bigger at the back as well 🙂

Go 44/34/24 plus 11/34 and you'll be reet. Spa do their cheapie triple in that configure around £35 IIRC.

FWIW, I use a road triple and a 10-speed XT cassette 😆

Was planning this too. Would a medium cage 10 speed 105 rear mech not cope with an 11-34 cassette and a 33-48 double. Everything I've read suggests it would work ok ( but be right on the limit) but some reassurance would be good.

Jameso - YGM

I'm looking at chain lines now. Jesus.

Still can't quite figure out what road front mech I would need for a smaller-than-compact chain set setup.

just did the way of the roses fully loaded with the family, my Pinnacle is a 1x10 setup 38 - 12-30 cassette
seems ideal although something smaller for the 16% climbs would have been useful, i coped with everything and there was a lot less to go wrong

I'd hit the CTC forum and do some searches - there's normally a thread or two on the technical front page about gearing...

A couple of more options for you though are an IRD Alpine front derailleur, that's designed to work with road STI's and chainrings smaller that 50T on the big ring.

Alternatively, buy the cheapest road double mech you can get your hands on, and fit a square taper triple crankset with only 2 rings. Someone on the CTC forum uses an MTB 22-44 double (from a triple) set up, with the big ring in the middle ring position. the square taper BB means you can use shorter/longer BB axles to get the chainline right. And believe it or not a 44T chainring means you only lose a couple of gears at the top end compared with a 50T ring.

So an MTB triple chainset with a 22T granny and a 44T "middle" ring only. or a 110/74bcd triple with 24T granny and whatever middle you like (more chainring options in this route, but can only go down to 24T).

I run triples on my bikes, but on one I've got 24-36-48T MTB cranks running on 9speed STI's and triple front mech (which is over capacity) all using a 107mm BB compared to the "correct" 113mm one.

And personally, I see the point of multiple chainrings [i]is[/i] a big ratio change, so I'd prefer to be shifting 2-3 gears on the cassette in conjunction with a chainring change.

Good luck!

There's some good tips here. It seems strange to me tht something as common as touring (is touring a niche?) is so hard to find standard options for.

My GF is off touring this summer in NI and just bought a Ridley Xbow for that purpose (though not for that alone), got the shop to change the small ring to a 34 and fit a 12-30 at the back, reading this thread it sounds like she might struggle.

EDIT - do 9sp Xt mechs work with Sora 9spd STIs?

There is no standard as people have different opinions on what constitutes a hard day. Some might be happy gurning up a 1:3 in 34/28 but when you've had a few days of it and still have many more to come, the 'lower is betterer' mantra kicks in.

I'm not in the least bit macho about it. I'll go as low as the kit allows and freewheel at the top end grateful for the leg/arse break.

I'm not in the least bit macho about it. I'll go as low as the kit allows and freewheel at the top end

We've done a fair bit of touring, and I'm the one that carries most of the gear in a trailer.
All I'll say is this: Do not underestimate how low geared your bike should be!!! Get the lowest gears you can possibly find. It's not a race, speed is not on the agenda.
I use a 26in MTB with 22/32/44 and 11-34. I use bottom gear faaaaaar more than I use top, put it that way!
Also, don't underestimate how beefy your wheels need to be. Downhill rims would not be too much overkill. Given the choice building from scratch if use 36h Mavic 321s on a hub with a steel axle and freehub body
Also, don't underestimate how good your brakes need to be. Now, I'm towing a trailer and I realise that's a big load but rim brakes are hopelessly inadequate in my experience. I'm on hydraulic discs with 160/180 rotors and I'll be putting a 180 on the back for next time. Mrs PP is on 160mm rotors but she only has rear panniers and a bar bag,'so that's fine for her.
She's on a 700c bike with a 12-36 9sp cassette and a 22/32/44 triple which gets her up pretty much anything!

The issue with equipment availability is not because cycle touring is nit popular - it is. It's that outside the UK doing it on dropped bars is virtually unheard of outside the UK! at least that was true historically.

I've never felt the need for DH rims on a tour - including an off road tour - but I am light on kit.

Std brakes (cantis now discs) been fine also.

Rusty what's your setup with the 42/30, are you running square taper cranks/STIs?

doing it on dropped bars is virtually unheard of outside the UK

Rusty what's your setup with the 42/30, are you running square taper cranks/STIs?

We met a German guy touring once. He pulled out a tissue to clean his hands after a picnic lunch...he pulled it out of a entire box of Kleenex in his pannier!

He then pulled out a laptop...this was in 1994!

I'm running a mtb crankset with touring outer. 22:32:46. Bar end friction shifters currently. Mtb cassette and rear mech, road bar end indexed shifter again.

Are you running an XT front mech rusty?

Are you running an XT front mech rusty?

53,39, 30 up front, with 12-28 out back, 10 speed 105 on my Vaya.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Standard SLX Double, and 12-28 on my Fargo.

Are you sure your 105 STI shifters won't work a triple front chainset as I have a triple Ultegra chainset on my old PX SL winter bike fitted once the GPX chainset wore out & a Tiagra triple fitted to my 2009 CdF.

Both bikes came fitted with 105 STI shifters and double chainsets but I have not changed the shifters.

Right, we'll I've ordered a 105 rear mech, 11-32 cassette, a CX70 front mech and hopefully a middleburn crankset with say 28-42 rings. Phew. I shall report back if that works.

OP, So how did the gearing work out?

I ended up picking up a Kaffenback 2 and putting a Stronglight 48/38/28 triple on the front, coupled to an 11-32 on the back as a more general pootling around gearing, rather than going down the fully loaded tourer route. (Probably because I subconsciously realised I wasn't going anywhere for a while 🙂 ).

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and yes - I know I need to cut the steerer down 🙂

No wonder I found every incline hard work on my tour of the west coast this week....50/34 and 12/25. Perhaps I should have done a bit of research.
It did make for a lot of progress though 🙂

50/34 and 12/25 was what was on my CdF originally. I soon realised that i was too much of a wuss to live with it 🙂

I'm on a Croix de Fer too.
I'll probably go a bit easier next time, some of the hills and headwinds were a bit testing.

I'll be tinkering with the CdF after I've played around with the Kaff for a bit. The CdF currently has 11/32 on the back (except the wheels are currently on the Kaff :)) and I will leave that alone but change the 50/34 to something lower and possibly closer ratio.

An interesting thread, I'm about to go 11 speed on my Kinesis Tripster and as i plan to go touring i initially thought that i would get away with using an Ultegra spec drivetrain - 46/36 and 11-32 which gives me a gear spread from 30.6" to 113", if i remove the 36 and fit a 34tooth on the front i could drop to 28.9", would i notice the difference?.

Or…….For the past 20 years i have ran Middleburn cranks on my mtbs and i i'd love them on the Tripster, It is possible to rig up a Middleburn RS8 crankset with a 24T/38T or 26T/39T but would this work with the Kinesis Tripster with it's road BB specs?, I'm not bothered about top speed as as due to an old injury my average speed on the road is well below 15mph so it makes sense to gear for the climbs rather than top speed.

Cheers,

Forget what i said about middleburn - they don't make 11 speed chainrings….arse, i almost got excited at the thought of a pimp RS8 double on the bike

Great thread. It confirms that I'm right to be suspicious about the sort of gears needed for touring

But Downhill rims. In the my well built rear wheel with an xc (mavic 321?) rim did months of bouncing over rock with me and panniers and never missed a beat

Hi all! Have asked this from Shimano, Wiggle and Bike24 customer service, all giving different answers. Found this thread and thought you guys have actual first hand experience.

The usual story: taking light cyclocross bike for touring in a very hilly area .Currently run full Shimano 10 speed double, except for Ultegra 10 sp.brifters. Cranks 36-46, cassette 11-28.

Ideal solution: replace the cassette with Tiagra 10 sp. of 12-30 and pair it up with Shimano 10 sp. XT M785 Double 24-38 as it has the same Hollowtech II bb I have now and I´d have spot on gearing.

I´ve been told the cable pull doesn´t work as the cranks are Dyna-Sys which only works with straight bars and other D-S components incl. derailleurs, shifters and D-S specific chain (the chain, they say, is so different from reg.10 sp.). Chain change is doable but as I need to switch things back after the tour, will look for simple solutions.

I´m under the impression my safest bet is Shimano FC M590 9-sp. triple ( 48-36-26) that I could run as a double using only the 2 smallest rings, as this is non Dyna-Sys and supposedly will work with 10 speed brifters and derailleurs? I´ve also read Tiagra FD would have better capacity to handle the smaller chainrings?

Please help.

Cadence, ime road FDs don't shift very well on MTB chainsets, particularly 50mm CL hollwtech 2 chainsets. They can be set up acceptable but won't shift as well as intended. V-V is also true for MTB FDs on road chainsets (all this assumes 'road chainset' means 34-50 and 'MTB' means 22-42 ranges - Middleburn make some great 'middle' size ring combos that may bridge the gaps well enough)

A 10spd Shimano road STI and MTB 10spd cassette will work with a 9sd Shimano MTB mech though so 46 or 48 / 34 road chainset with an 11-36 rear is a good light touring double set up that's easy to get working well as well as cheap / easy to swap out for normal road kit as needed after your trip.

I´m under the impression my safest bet is Shimano FC M590 9-sp. triple ( 48-36-26) that I could run as a double using only the 2 smallest rings, as this is non Dyna-Sys and supposedly will work with 10 speed brifters and derailleurs? I´ve also read Tiagra FD would have better capacity to handle the smaller chainrings?

Maybe look at the actual gear inches one system that you'd like offers and see if the combo of a 10spd road STI, 34-46 chainset and double FD and an MTB 10spd 11-36 cassette with a 9spd MTB RD offers close enough? 34/36 is almost as low as 26/28, ie damn near the same. It's what I'd use on a bike that had drops for touring on light-middling loads - if I need lower I use a bike with a 9s MTB triple set up and a swept-back bar that can take MTB shifters. Add a Middleburn square taper 30-42 chainset with ~45mm chainline (the pricey bit) if you need lower still and want to stick to the drops set up your bike has.

I use 22/32/44 mtb chainset with 11/28 9 speed cassette and bullet proof downtube dura ace shifters with the friction option

running a Deore 9speed triple 48 36 26 with Ultrega STI's XT front and long cage rear and 12-34 .......

confession done reading above sorted (hopefully) - this review over on road.cc mightbe of interest - Tiagra 10speed with various options - think I'll be looking at this to replace my Deore and mrs antigee's 10speed triple 105

[url] http://road.cc/content/news/147338-shimano-launch-shimano-tiagra-4700-groupset [/url]

edit this is a very recent news article

[quote=MSP ]

I like the idea of a closer ratio cassette with very wide chainring range.

How long does it take you to change a couple of gears? I don't find a problem changing front and rear gears at the same time, which is something you tend to do as standard with a compact road chainset. I do have Campag on the roadie, which makes it easier to change up a couple of gears on the back when changing down on the front, but the tandem with Shimano has 52/39/26 chainrings and normally a 12-27 9 speed cassette and I've never found it to be an issue with that either. Much prefer achieving the gearing range with the chainrings which decreases the gaps between gears to keep the cadence steady.

My gf has one of these which has a mix of road/mtb stuff which works fine...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/ridgeback/voyage-2014-touring-bike-ec059660

Might be worth looking at the spec?
8 speed MTB cassette, chainset, derailuers, all operated with road STI's

I guess this is before they fiddled around with all the cable-pull ratios for 10 speed stuff though.

Interesting points of view. I did some gear-inch checking with good old Sheldon, and it seems only the MTB dbl 24-38 ( or Deore triple set up as a dbl) paired with a wider range cassette than I expected ( 11-32) would give me the lowest gear 20.3 which would be perfect. The 36-46 paired with 11-36 would give me 25,5 gi.

I don´t know is it possible to swap the 36t ring for a smaller one, and if it would be, how small ring could it take?

Having done a similar hillside tour last summer I too am one of those who swear by small gears. It´s amazing how the tiredness accumulates on your legs.. It´s reassuring to know there´s a few "emergency gears" left for those log-leg hours of the day.

Unless someone can convince me of the Dynasys compatibility with the rest of my setup, I think I´ll settle for the Deore triple paired with the Tiagra cassette and possibly changing the FD.

I've gone with a 22/32/44 xt chainset coupled with an 11-32 9spd cassette and Dura Ace 9spd barend shifters. Should hopefully give me plenty of gears 🙂

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I have Middleburn R02 Touring cranks, 38 outer 28 inner & 10 spd 11-36 Cassette on my Tripster with XTR clutch mech and shifters, it was certainly low enough yesterday for the Burma road climb at Aviemore but i did have a few recovery stops and to get the camera out 😉 , I also did the High path route up Glen Einich which was very much shorter but steeper in sections.

I wasn't laden down (apart from a few kg of unwanted fat) but i imagine a gear inch of 21.5 will get me up anything on the road with luggage and the gaps between the gearing wasn't an issue for me - for most of the off-road stuff it was always in the small ring and the 38 was only used on the road to head back after riding all day.

[img] [/img]

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Burma road climb, steep and loose

I have the Middleburn Incy and I think Matt said the 22/40 was their most popular for touring - I have 26 / 38 on my Jake for on off road stuff around here, S.Wales, with 11/30 out the back. I also have a Middleburn Duo 27/40 on my Peregrine with mtb 11/36 out back which also works well.

Simonbarnes = what's the tyre clearance like on the TdF?

Simonbarnes = what's the tyre clearance like on the TdF?

Can't quite remember off the top of my head and bike is at work and I'm on holiday. Have put 37c tyres on, pretty sure larger would also fit.

Simondbarnes gets the award. That's the correct setup. 😛

We run similar on the tandems, one with a TA Zephyr crank that let's us run a 20 chainring if it's really hilly. I have an old Avid adapter from the 80's that also let's me run a 20 on a 64 bcd crank (converts 64 to 58). Bar end shifters solve all the compatibility shite and you can use mtb cassettes and rear derailleurs for wide range gearing.

When touring, you can't have enough low gears or brakes especially on tandems.

Absolutely, triple. A touring bike should be ultra-comfortable, have gearing that is far easier than you would normally use and dead robust. I've found weight is not really something to worry about but riding position and a good saddle are everything.

My tourer rocks.Hmm, can't seem to find a decent picture of it

Here's a picture of it at the top of the monster climb, Park Rash

[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7633/16637341398_d73575da0c_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7633/16637341398_d73575da0c_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/rmbHXL ]Park Rash at the top[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/53067724@N00/ ]Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Simondbarnes - that's the same as the standard setup on the full build of the CDF.

I thought I would have to fit higher gears but after going on a couple of rides I think it's perfect. The highest gears are just right and the lowest is good for churning up the hills taking in the views!

http://www.gevenalle.com/ this may be of interest to some of you.

Apologies if already covered, but will an XT Tripple run ok with a 105 STI & front mech?

Even if it's a triple front 105 shifter you'll struggle to get the front mech working nicely Nick.

That was my thought..
Any ideas Simon?
MTB Front Mech?

Use bar cons then the front is friction so no issue. STI's have no place on a proper touring bike...

Get a rohloff nick 😉