Loaded Touring Bike Chainring choise?
 

Hi, I Have a Cannondale T600 with 54/42/30 chainring, Looking at the Bruce Gordon BLT and it has 44/32/22 chainring. What is the + and - of the smaller set and should I look at changing chainrings or does that work? Thank You for any Information. Ken J.

If you want lower gearing, sure. You can also throw on a larger cassette, but that might require a megarange rear der to match.
Mine is 34t. My rings are something like 52/40/28

Thank You, Doing ok with lite load, but just bought a bob trailer and I may need a lower gear or two.

I have a 1994 Cannodale T700 which I toured with extensively in the latter half of the 90's in the mountainous terrain of BC, Alberta, Montana, Idaho and Washington. I usually carried a full load of four panniers plus a large duffel bag on the rear rack. To make it easier to push this load, I put the lowest gearing possible on the T700. I can't remember the component names but hear are the tooth counts for the lowest gear -- small chainring:20, largest gear on cassette: 28. This is a gearing ration of .71 which made many of my companions envious!!

You really need gearing for the steepest hill/roughest track/headwind at the end of the hardest day.
I switched from a road triple to a Shimano LX chainset and never regretted the loss of stupid-high gears.
The front mech may still work with smaller rings.