touring gearing ?

[ton]

got a 3 week tour planned in France, taking in the massif central.
and i need to change my gearing to suit the terrain.
running 9 speed at present. 26-36-50 with a 12-34 block, was just looking at merlin. 22-32-44 sq taper set on offer, with a 12-36 block. all on off.
worth a punt ?

[tatanab]

The Massif is nothing like the high mountains. I toured there (saddlebag and barbag) three times with a bottom gear of 36 front 26 rear, mind you I was only 40 years old at the time - and that was a long time ago.

If it pleases you to change your gearing, then go for it. Only you can judge whether or not it is "needed". New bits can always be justified

[MrsHJ]

I have 22-32-44 and 11-34. I haven’t found anything it won’t go up yet and I’m not sure I agree about the high mountains. It’s mostly some out of the way super steep section that’ll catch you out and generally mountain climbs aren’t graded like that- for those you just need to be able to settle into a low ish gear and plod away. I think the worst we found and toured up with camping gear was about 18% (short section) and that was near La Montagne Noire - at the SW end of the Massif Central (different bike). The hills round here in Devon are far more horrible than most stuff in france.

I had 50/39/30 before following an emergency replacement with what I presume was a road set when I was on tour and I was having real trouble climbing with it- I never hit the top gear and couldn’t understand why I was suddenly struggling on hills. I’m not a particularly regular cyclist though and my fitness is erratic although I definitely have a diesel engine - so you may be able to get away with what you have. I’ll be on the Massif Central this June. People here kindly and patiently helped me select the new gearing in this thread: viewtopic.php?t=147847&start=45

[rareposter]

and i need to change my gearing to suit the terrain.

Need?
What's wrong with the current gearing?
You've given no info about your bike, what weight you'll be carrying, how far you're riding each day, what hills you can / can't get up on your current gearing...??

The Massif is lumpy but it's certainly not as long or sustained as the high Alps or Pyrenees.

However gearing is an incredibly personal choice - if you want (or feel you need) lower gears, then go for it, no-one is going to judge you. Equally, no-one can tell you what gearing you "need".

[ton]

when i said need, i forgot to add,my present stuff is pretty well worn. so the new stuff would be a welcome purchase.

@tatanab and MrsHJ thanks for your input.

[pjclinch]

when i said need, i forgot to add,my present stuff is pretty well worn. so the new stuff would be a welcome purchase.

It's a good reason to review... but not necessarily change.

My road tourer has a bottom end of 26/34 on a 26" wheel and it'll get up just about anything on the road with 4 loaded panniers. My MTB goes down to 22/34 on a 27.5" wheel and I certainly use 1st but on stuff like steep banks (where keeping the front wheel on the ground is one of the challenges) or sustained chugging up soft ground.

I think the trick is can you sustain your lowest gear on the great majority of hills you encounter with your touring load, and do you ever use top gear? If the answer to either is "no", that's an argument to gear it down.

Pete.

[JohnR]

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to try the lower gearing. At £40 for that crankset it's not a big investment which effectively takes one gear off the top of the range (one can always pedal faster) and adds one in reserve at the bottom.

[Rob D]

I'm on 24/36. Have lowered my gearing a bit over the years. My wife's on 22/36. We are very happy with the reductions. This is on 700s, 2 panniers and bar box. There's no harm in being undergeared, provided your top gear isn't reduced too low.

[cycleruk]

Currently running 26-36-50 with a 12-34 block, was just looking at merlin.
22-32-44 sq taper set on offer, with a 12-36 block. all on off. worth a punt ?

Might need to consider the chainline.

[pwa]

got a 3 week tour planned in France, taking in the massif central.
and i need to change my gearing to suit the terrain.
running 9 speed at present. 26-36-50 with a 12-34 block, was just looking at merlin. 22-32-44 sq taper set on offer, with a 12-36 block. all on off.
worth a punt ?

With the limitations of my legs, anything to get the gearing really low for the tough bits is welcome. 22x36 sounds good to me. I can think of hills here in Wales where I would be glad of that. If you are okay losing your top end, and having to freewheel a bit more on downhills, and if it all actually works smoothly, great.

[slowster]

Comparison of current with proposed new gearing - https://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR=DER ... 6&UF2=2185

You might need a new front derailleur (and possibly shifter as well if you are using an indexed shifter).

If you currently have a road triple front derailleur and your chainset is a road triple model, you might find that the Sunrace chainset was designed for/requires an MTB triple front derailleur. The possible issues will be:

1. The shaped inner cage of Shimano front triple derailleurs, which are designed for a specific big/middle chainring tooth difference. I would not expect that to be a problem, because a change from a 14t to a 12t difference is small and in the right direction (Shimano triples typically are optimsed for smaller differences than 14t).

2. The curve of an MTB triple cage is designed to match the smaller chainring sizes of MTB chainsets.

3. Different chainlines may mean a road triple mech will not work (well) with an MTB chainset. However, square taper allows you to fit a bottom bracket with a shorter axle to reduce the chainline from MTB standard to nearer road standard (assuming the small inner ring of an MTB chainset will not foul on the chainstay if further inboard).

I would probably get the Sunrace chainset and see if it worked with the current front derailleur (duly lowered) and bottom bracket. If not, then you could then consider whether it would be better to fit an MTB front derailleur or to attempt to reduce the chainline with a shorter axle BB. I think the former would probably be the better option (assuming a non-indexed front shifter).

The other thing to be aware of, if you are sensitive to the Q factor, is that MTB triples have larger Q factors than road triples. For example, some Shimano MTB triples have Q factors of around 180mm.

[MarcusT]

Without knowing the brand of crank, have you considered just changing the 26 chainring for a 24 or 22?

[roubaixtuesday]

got a 3 week tour planned in France, taking in the massif central.
and i need to change my gearing to suit the terrain.
running 9 speed at present. 26-36-50 with a 12-34 block, was just looking at merlin. 22-32-44 sq taper set on offer, with a 12-36 block. all on off.
worth a punt ?

We did quite a few big climbs fully laden on the Eastern side of the Massif Central last summer.

They're obviously longer than UK climbs, but generally very well graded, typically ~5% rather than typical ~10% in the Alps and short steep ramps almost non- existent. I'd say UK roads are much more demanding.

Sounds like you have a road chainset? Id' consider reducing chainring size to minimum (24 probably), and you can probably get away with a 36 at the back too if you want.

[Jdsk]

...
I think the trick is can you sustain your lowest gear on the great majority of hills you encounter with your touring load, and do you ever use top gear? If the answer to either is "no", that's an argument to gear it down.

This sounds right to me: establish the requirements before getting into technical questions about how they can be met.

And if you think that you want something lower is it "one more" or "two more" than you currently have?

It may come out with some technology that you have to trade the highest gear against the lowest. As often remarked in this parish it's much less of a problem when touring if the top isn't as high as you'd like.

Jonathan

[axel_knutt]

This sounds right to me: establish the requirements before getting into technical questions about how they can be met.

And if you think that you want something lower is it "one more" or "two more" than you currently have?

It may come out with some technology that you have to trade the highest gear against the lowest. As often remarked in this parish it's much less of a problem when touring if the top isn't as high as you'd like.

Jonathan

Easier said than done though, for many, the only way to decide will be suck it and see. When I lowered the gears on mine from 25" to 17.5" it made it easier to keep going on steep hills, but harder to get started again if I stalled. I lost the top 3 gears on my sprocket when a bar-end lever broke in the middle of a tour once, and hardly noticed because I could still freewheel downhill when top gear wasn't high enough.