How low can you go? Gears.

[jimlews]

For your amusement - 1 in 3, 7.5 gear inches:

https://youtu.be/FgIL6eHHgZU

I want one!

[mikeymo]

My touring gearing for cycle camping with an all up weight of 65lbs (machine and luggage) is [...] 40/24 with 12/28 on a double. Bottom gear is about 23".

I'm trying to find/work out if I can replicate my triple set up with a double.

Is the gear range you quote above on a bike with drop bars and STIs?

Thanks.

[The utility cyclist]

A 20T c/ring plus one of the 50T dinner plate sprockets with skinny 559-28 tyres would give you 9.59", that would be perfect for ultra load lugging or freakish gradients.

[tatanab]

My touring gearing for cycle camping with an all up weight of 65lbs (machine and luggage) is [...] 40/24 with 12/28 on a double. Bottom gear is about 23".

I'm trying to find/work out if I can replicate my triple set up with a double.

Is the gear range you quote above on a bike with drop bars and STIs?

Thanks.

Yes, although Campag Ergo not Shimano STI. I've been using this set up on my main touring machine for 8 years now. My others have triples 48/36/24 with 14-28 7 and 8 speed and the double 10 speed gives almost exactly the same gear range.

[mikeymo]

My touring gearing for cycle camping with an all up weight of 65lbs (machine and luggage) is [...] 40/24 with 12/28 on a double. Bottom gear is about 23".

I'm trying to find/work out if I can replicate my triple set up with a double.

Is the gear range you quote above on a bike with drop bars and STIs?

Thanks.

Yes, although Campag Ergo not Shimano STI. I've been using this set up on my main touring machine for 8 years now. My others have triples 48/36/24 with 14-28 7 and 8 speed and the double 10 speed gives almost exactly the same gear range.

Thanks. Did you use Campag because it's easier to achieve a wide range and low end with Campag vs Shimano (or SRAM?). Or do you just prefer Campag?

[PH]

My touring gearing for cycle camping with an all up weight of 65lbs (machine and luggage) is [...] 40/24 with 12/28 on a double. Bottom gear is about 23".

I'm trying to find/work out if I can replicate my triple set up with a double.
Thanks.

Just in case you haven't realised it, tatanab will have a top gear of around 90".

[tatanab]

Campag is not easier to get lower end or anything else versus Shimano or SRAM, indeed it is more difficult with up to the minute parst. I use Campag because I am an old git who could only dream about it in the 1960s. Also, all of my kit is pre 2005, most pre 2000. Also I mix and match parts, never having had a groupset in my life. I am not too narrow minded, my old touring bike has Campag Ergo and gear mechs etc, but Shimano hubs and brakes because they are better suited to my needs.

Yes, I have a top gear of "only" about 90 inches. Above 35mph I am likely to be freewheeling, and this size of top gear was what I used in my racing days.

[Brucey]

A perhaps minor point this, but for many years campagnolo parts from different groupsets (espcially with the silver finish) didn't have a very strong 'identity' (appearance) other than they are campag rather than another manufacturer. To my mind this means that a 'bitsa' campag groupset usually looks more cohesive than a mix and match groupset from another manufacturer.

cheers

[The utility cyclist]

Campag is not easier to get lower end or anything else versus Shimano or SRAM, indeed it is more difficult with up to the minute parst. I use Campag because I am an old git who could only dream about it in the 1960s. Also, all of my kit is pre 2005, most pre 2000. Also I mix and match parts, never having had a groupset in my life. I am not too narrow minded, my old touring bike has Campag Ergo and gear mechs etc, but Shimano hubs and brakes because they are better suited to my needs.

Yes, I have a top gear of "only" about 90 inches. Above 35mph I am likely to be freewheeling, and this size of top gear was what I used in my racing days.

I didn't get my first Campag Ergo stuff, in fact it was my first campag anything aside from a pair of 26"MA40/Campag MTB wheels, until 2012, 8x3 Chorus on what was badged as a 'Chick', 46/40/24 and 13(possibly 14)-30, it was such a dream shifting wise compared to the Dura Ace 7700 that I had up until then, it was also the lowest geared bike I'd had to date, my hybrid at the time had a 26/26 low. I've got two sets of 9 speed ergos but not currently using them, I need to fit them to my 1990 Gitane race replica.

At 35mph depending on terrain I'm as likely to be pedalling as I am freewheeling, I can reach 37mph on the short 7% to the shops but it's a bit bumpy at the bottom so tend not to keep the hammer down as I hit the flat but there are a fair few slopes where you can keep pedalling even at 40mph, highest pedalling speed for me was 46mph coming back to Chamonix from CH.