Touring - Coming from singlespeed

Hi guys
This is my first post here, so here it goes:
I'm a singlespeeder. This summer I will do so some offroad touring with my bike (a rigid GT Zaskar), so I gess I'll need some gears. My question is if a 1x9 drive will do the job, or if I really need a more usual 3x9 to handle the full loaded bike.
Thanks in advance for all the answers

The only person who can really answer this question is you.

Barring a weekend test ride, what kind of terrain will you be riding? How steep is it? How long are you riding for? How much are you carrying?

It'll be nice to be able to spin 17 gear inches.

Thanks
It will be a 1 week ride, mainly on mountains, much time offroad but with some road too. I'm still not sure about the load weight, but it will be self suported.

zaskar, you'll need all the gears you can get for that. Too many variables in terrain, IMHO.

Hi guys
This is my first post here, so here it goes:
I'm a singlespeeder. This summer I will do so some offroad touring with my bike (a rigid GT Zaskar), so I gess I'll need some gears. My question is if a 1x9 drive will do the job, or if I really need a more usual 3x9 to handle the full loaded bike.
Thanks in advance for all the answers

Bottom line you can tour with 9 gears or 27...the difference is with 9 gears there will be times you'll have to walk if you need a lower gear than you have and sometimes you'll spin out on a downhill. Not a big deal as long as you don't mind that. OTOH the extra cost and hassle of having a front dérailleur on your bike + chain rings is pretty small and might be worth it....as adun111 noted above the only one who can really decide which is the right option is you.

I'd say go for it, but I'm a bit crazy like that.

you should consider:

-What kind of cassette? 11-34 will give you a good range.
-What front ring?
-How much will you be carrying?
-Are you travelling with people, and what will they be riding on?
-How far do you want to travel in a day? (you might get tired faster)

Hi guys
This is my first post here, so here it goes:
I'm a singlespeeder. This summer I will do so some offroad touring with my bike (a rigid GT Zaskar), so I gess I'll need some gears. My question is if a 1x9 drive will do the job, or if I really need a more usual 3x9 to handle the full loaded bike.
Thanks in advance for all the answers

If you are going off road I'd gear down. To avoid too much cross chaining I'd go with 1x7 gearing. So what about a Shimano 7 speed freewheel, 14 - 16 - 18 - 21 - 24 - 34, "Megarange". combine it with a 40t chain ring and you get 77" down to 31". The 77" gear will take you along flat roads at 20 mph doing reasonable rpms and the 31" gear should be low enough for most hills

Thanks again for all the help guys
I already have the cassette, a 11-32 Shimano Xt, as well as a front derailleur (XT) and a triple chainset (Hone).
After some time thinking about it, I now know that the bike+load will be around 30kg's or 66lbs. I'm used to pedal allways in the wrong gear, but after imagine a bike of that weight on trails like this
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7466/santiagodf8.jpg
I get kind of scared.

Thanks again for all the help guys
I already have the cassette, a 11-32 Shimano Xt, as well as a front derailleur (XT) and a triple chainset (Hone).
After some time thinking about it, I now know that the bike+load will be around 30kg's or 66lbs. I'm used to pedal allways in the wrong gear, but after imagine a bike of that weight on trails like this
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7466/santiagodf8.jpg
I get kind of scared.

Just put the 44-32-22 triple on there and you are all set.

Well, after all this I'll go with the 3x9.
Thanks for everything

Well, after all this I'll go with the 3x9.
Thanks for everything

Having the 11-32 9sp cassette sort of dictated either 2x9 or 3x9 as a 1x9 would have had a really bad chain line at the extremities. It would have been possible, but not ideal