ricohman

I finally got to ride the bike with new gearing and the shorter 170mm arms. And as many said, it is very hard to tell the difference between the arm length although it is easier to keep my cadence up. And although I have no knee pain this may be the way to keep me pain free!
The new 48/36/26 gearing is far removed from the FSA 52/42/30 that came with the bike.
And the flexy/creaking FSA won't be missed. I think the external bearing crank is a bit stiffer, but that may be just the arms.
Here are a few pics.

norwood

I love your bike! What size frame is that?

kayakdiver

It's about a spot on match for my Jamis Aurora in setup. I like that crankset. I also run a 170mm. I even have the same racks front and back and fenders.

Great looking bike!

ricohman

Its a 53cm. Normally I take a bit bigger bike but after a fitting this seemed to fit me the best. Maybe the older I get the less I want to reach for the bars.
I also use it daily as my commuter.


Here you can see the old FSA crank. Maybe they picked it for the color? The new crank actually matches the RD better anyway.

Speedo

Congratulations. Your bike is now perfect.

Speedo

njkayaker

I went with the 52 (52.5) (I'm 5'9''). I probably should have gone with the 50, which is only 1/2 shorter in the horizontal toptube length. Keep in mind that the toptube of the Sherpas is very angled. Also note that wider tires means the bicycle has less stand-over height. It might sense, fitting wise, to think of it more like a mountain bike.

How is the toe-overlap with the front fender? Did you trim the front fender stays? What size fender did you use and what tires?

The Sherpas are quite nice. It would be perfect if they included a pump peg on the frame!

ricohman

I have no problems with toe or heel strike with the fenders. I wear a 43 or 44 Shimano shoe.
I am the same height as you but I have a 33 inseam.
The fender stays were trimmed to fit. The fenders are Planet Bike Cascadia Hybrid.
The tires were originally a 32 Kenda Quests but they were more of a 35 in actual width. They were also junk. Small rocks caused me many flats. I swapped them out for Vittoria Randonneur in 32 (which they really are) and have had no flats since.

njkayaker

My "inseam" from pubis to the floor is probably 32.5. Given where your seat post is positioned, your inseam is at least 1 inch more than mine.

I'm currently using Ritchy "supermax" cross tires at 35mm. I have a little bit of toe overlap with the fenders (45mm SKG). I have to trim the "death" fender stays to be a bit shorter. There's a silly amount of room for tires in this bike. (It still needs a pump peg.) What pump do you use (like)? I'd need to get to 110psi or so reasonably easily. I'll probably go with a Topeak Road Morph G but it's a bit bulky (wide).

ricohman

I really like the Axiom Dominate Air DLX that I've been using. Lots of volume and nice and compact.
I am surprised that you have toe overlap. I thought pretty much all new touring bikes had this solved for anyone under a size 11 shoe.

Psykotic_Sheep

I have the exact same setup, from the Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30 to the Cascadia fenders, Brooks saddle and Tubus Cargo rack.

The stock 52/42/30 crankset is too high even for me to climb slopes unloaded; can't imagine doing it in the Rockies fully loaded. I noticed you got the Deore LX T661 model with 48/36/26 gearing. How's that crankset working out for you? Did you require spacers or any modifications with your Tiagra FD?

I am looking at lower gear cranksets (44/32/22) such as the Deore LX M582. Does anyone know if this crankset would work on the Sherpas?
https://www.shimano.com/publish/conte..._mountain.html

ricohman

This crankset has worked out very well. The gearing has completely changed the bike. I don't live in the mountains so I never shopped for a MTB crankset but my LBS was willing to put one on if thats what I wanted. I was told any of them would fit.
Anyway, my LBS re-faced the BB which was nearly spot on to begin with (he said Rocky faces all the BB's at the factory) and installed it in minutes. No spacers or anything needed for a proper chainline. It works just as before with the FD.
And it is very quiet now. I can't believe how noisy that FSA crankset was.

Psykotic_Sheep

Thanks a lot. Puts my mind at ease. I think I will go for the same crank set with the 22T model.

wasabi

nice rig The original FSA crankset was inferior in quality, you won't miss it. + the LX crankset gives the bike a bit more "life" compared to the boring all-black. It fits perfect with the brake levers and rear derailleur.

runpasthefence

Where are you guys getting these Deore cranksets? I'm looking for something close in 170mm for my Aurora and I can't find it anywhere, LBS can't either...

ricohman

If your having trouble locating one in the U.S just order one out of Canada. It seems Shimano U.S is different from Shimano Canada/UK/Australia.

kayakdiver

One quick search of eBay found this

https://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-LX-M580-...d=p3286.c0.m14

And this https://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-LX-170mm...d=p3286.c0.m14

And this.. For $70 with $13 shipping seems like a pretty decent value.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-LX-M542-...d=p3286.c0.m14

1-track-mind

Considering a Sherpa 30 purchase and wondering if I could just switch out the small chainring ?