badger_biker 

They are On One Midge bars. I'm really happy with them.

djb

good question, I suspect not a big percentage of people. I think it depends on your interest in that sort of thing and other experience. In my case, part of my always thinking about what is the ideal gear comes from having had motorcycles, racing a narrow ranged powerband 2 stroke and having followed motor racing since I was a teenager, I tend always to think of being in the exact gear when I ride, its kind of hard wired for me and I do it without thinking--when I go up to a larger chainring, I shift down a gear or two in back, and vice versa, and how many rear changes I do depends on the situation and specific parts setup.

(what makes brifters so much fun to ride with, the easy and fast shifts)

Another factor, just as big I figure, is that being a skinny guy with very average power, its always been to my advantage to be in the right gear at exactly the right time, just to help me along and be easier on my legs-I dont do lugging too high a gear very well like a guy with big strong legs.

Add a bunch of touring weight on my bike, and for me, it is really important for how my legs feel during a long ride to be in the right gear, and yes changing rollers are a good example of how being really efficient in your shifting makes a big difference in being the most efficient in your power output and leg muscle workout over a long day. Even when much younger, my leg muscles always appreciated keeping fairly close to similar cadences and exertion, just always seemed easier on the legs.

ps, I would add that the old half-step thing never interested me that much, yes it was better for getting nice half steps, but it was a lot a front shifting and increasing speeds in back kinda took care of the really big jumps between cassette shifts.

BobG

I have two sets of touring wheels. One with a 7 speed freewheel and the other with an 8 speed cassette. Combined with a Shimano MTB crankset in the front they provide enough evenly spaced gear choices for me. 13/32 on the freewheel, 11/32 on the cassette. Never had a problem finding replacements although I suppose that could change in the future.


Badger, I have Midge bars and like them also. What's that tall stem you're using? I have a quill steerer tube with a tall adapter to a clamp on threadless style On-One stem.

Tourist in MSN

For any given gear I am in, I know which gear is the next higher or lower. I do not shift the front and rear together that often, but if it is a slight change of grade or a slight change of windage, I might to shift to the next higher or lower gear by shifting both front and rear to get a gear ratio change of about 6 to 8 percent.

I commented above in post 13 that I use an 8 speed system. I have a triple crankset. I do not use the two most cross chained gears for each chainring, thus I actually use only 18 of my 24 gears. None of the 18 are redundant and I have a nice range of gears without any big holes in the range.

On my last tour, I used a half step setup on the middle and large chainrings by changing my large ring to a slightly smaller one. But that trip had so many short hills that I rarely used the half step capability since I was constantly upshifting or downshifting many gears at once with all those short little hills. Around home I use one and a half step, but I might use half step on future tours since it is easy to change a chainring.

But, my next trip is with my Rohloff bike, so half step by definition is not going to happen.

Mr IGH

Shimano still makes 6/7 speed derailleurs as well as 8 and 9 speed. Maybe not Dura Ace level but it's been my experience that the lower level stuff works really well:
Universal Cycles -- Shimano RD-M590 Deore Rear Derailleurs - 9 Speed

And you can still get the 591, there's 240 in stock:
Universal Cycles -- Derailleurs and Parts > Mountain Derailleurs > Shimano Derailleurs

Yes, 9 speed made sense to me, I just built a new bike this year with 9 speed. My entire family is running 9 speed, I don't want to have anything else. If there's still 6 speed I feel safe staying with 9 speed.

I don't worry about using 10 speed cranksets with 9 speed shifters, it hasn't been a problem for my setups 2x and 3x.

badger_biker 

Not sure on the brand. I want to say Kalloy but not positive. I picked it up at a swap meet and wanted it because of the rise and the two bolt front bracket so I didn't have to thread the bars through a normal quill stem. I was afraid the reach might not be enough but it is perfect for this build.

badger_biker 

100% agree about the half-step. I've swapped out the middle ring on every crank set up that way so I had more of a change between the big and middle rings.

When touring with a load momentum is a big thing for me and the last thing I want to do is loose that while try to decide if I should be shifting front or rear. Front shifts are slower and sometimes less positive when chugging up a hill with a load. When I'm on the big ring in front I just shift the rear as needed until I get to the point of too much chain angle and then drop down in front.

bikemig 

I was thinking the same thing about the parts used on this build more generally (and the paint job). @badger_biker should post a build thread on this bike. It looks great.

badger_biker 

Thanks for the compliment Miguel! I did start a thread in the C&V forum:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17815156

escii_35

No I does not make sense to me. All my other bikes are 7/8 freewheel/cassette. Also, 9 speed friction is slightly more twitchy.

As long as Walmart sells freewheel bikes I feel safe at the 7/8 level.

MassiveD

I almost built a 27" wheel tourer on that basis a few years back. There is some truth to that contention in NA.

My immediate reaction when I read the OP's question was, "damn straight anything over 8 speed is crazy". But most people seem to have seen it as a 9 vs 10 speed issue, or thrown in Rohloff. I have some opinions, but I would need to know which way the OPis tending. Subsequent posts didn't really clarify maters. If really planing on the tour of Africa, Rohloff makes the most sense.

tmac100

My 9 X 3 tourer will NEVER be changed wrt gearing as long as I can get parts. It has stood the test of time. The 48 spoke 26" wheels are basically bulletproof. Once when new I had rear flats because of burrs working thru the rim tape but sandpaper and more/thicker tape solved that. Another issue (once) was with the Shimano RD losing a screw, the "black bottom wheel" fell off and ... it went into the rear wheel as I was pedalling. Broke 2 spokes and bent 2. Hitch-hiked all day in the Australian outback to get it fixed and then continued.

My 3rd big tour ( 2700 km and 6 weeks) is coming up. Only thing I may change is the tyres as they are +3 years old. The bike is heavy ~ 40 lbs (unloaded) with the front rack not shown in the picture.

Arvon Cycles "Expedition Grade" Touring Bike with S and S Couplings

imi

OP here. I'm doing some really hard thinking here... Thanks for throwing some great thoughts into the pot.

I think I'll pop over to england and visit the Thorn shop (I have family in england). Maybe a complete bike rather than a build would be economically wiser... Yes, TdA is my goal. It doesn't get talked about much here. I'm sure I'll be starting new threads to gather more wisdom from you guys until then...

Medic Zero

That may be the only thing that makes sense to you, but lots of folks are quite happy with rim brakes (which unless I'm mistaken weigh less) and a cassette drivetrain is lighter too. Also, not all of us have the extra dough to go with the most expensive equipment out there!

My tourer is 9S, and most of the rest of my fleet is 8S, and both will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Tourist in MSN

If you go to SJS, try to talk to some of the people that have done a lot of long distance touring in developing countries and ask them what components they would put on a new bike. I think Andy B has exclusively been using a Rohloff bike for last few years on his tours, but there might be others that have good suggestions for setting up a derailleur bike. Some good topics to ask about would be longevity of external bearing bottom brackets compared to square taper, CSS rims compared to regular, dyno hubs and USB charging devices, etc. They could also help to make sure you get the right frame size. I have both a Sherpa and a Nomad. They are very different bikes and when you are at their store, you might want to compare the two.

djb

In the bb discussion, I've only had square taper bikes, but the original bb on my old Rockhopper only got changed a few years ago, maybe 3, so the orig must have gone a good 10 years of commuting, with an estimate of 20000 km on it. At one point it began to creak, but removing it and cleaning all the threads and regreasing the threads stopped the sound. Even when I finally put in a new one it was still not bad, no looseness or whatnot, just felt "dry" so to speak. In this respect, a good quality shimano should last easily half of what I got, I'm cutting it in half thinking of more dirty conditions all the time in a more as adventurous trip and less cleaning than in a commuting environment.
I don't think I put out enough power to feel the difference with stiffer bb's, so I'm inclined to stick with square taper, just a good one, plus lots of heavy grease in the threads and proper installation, torque and all.

Experiences from others? With external? And specifically which externals as I know there are numerous types.

MassiveD

I think if I was going to Africa, without looking like a hobo, I would try to retro it up a little. USB chargers and all kinds of electronics just sound like a serious temptation. Nobody will spot a rohloff and it may look more stealth than a dérailleur system, not to mention work better.