Long-time reader, first-time poster: I have found a lot of useful info in this forum over the past couple of years, thanks a lot. I now have a touring specific question that I couldn't answer myself, and would like to avoid the trial and error method this time, because it would be a bit more expensive, not to mention time-consuming.

I recently started getting into touring after commuting for years. I have a decent touring bike and I'm generally very happy with it. However, when my last tour led me through a very hilly area, I found that my lowest gear was not low enough. At least for a pretty steep climb that went on for around 10 km. I already have a Shimano Megarange 11-34 cassette ordered, which is just about within the capacity of my rear derrailleur. However, I'm worried that this won't be enough, especially since I'm planning to do extensive loaded touring through more mountainous terrain.

This is my current set-up:

Crankset: Sugino XD-600 triple 48/36/26 - 165mm cranks
Cassette: SRAM 8speed 11-32 (11-12-14-16-18-21-26-32)
[to be exchanged for a 11-34 (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-34) cassette]
Front Derrailleur: Shimano LX FD-M560
(26t capacity front)
Rear Derrailleur: Shimano XT SGS RD-M761
(11-34 capacity back, 22t capacity front, total capacity 45t)
The bike has 26" wheels.

Ideally, what I'd like to do is exchange 26 chainring for a 22, or at least a 24. The front derrailleur seems to have a 26teeth capacity, which would allow 48/26/22; but according to Shimano, the rear derailleur can only handle a front chainwheel tooth difference of 22.

So what would be the best solution; find a new rear derrailleur that can handle 11-34 and 48-22? Is there something like that anyway? Any rear derailleur I saw had a 22t capacity.

Or should I exchange the biggest chainring to be able to use a smaller granny ring - e.g. 46/26/24? I think I don't want to go down to 44; I have shortly used that in the past with a 700c commuter (with 170mm cranks) and thought it was too low on gentle descents.

With the current set-up, I have used the following gears most of the time:
* 36/14 - most of the time when fresh and the roads are not too bad and close to level
* 36/12 - some of the time when fresh and the roads are not too bad and close to level
* 36/18 - most of the time when tired and the roads are not too bad and close to level
* 48/12 - some of the time, but only when going downhill; liked this gear to make up time on long and gentle descents
* altering between 26/32 and 26/26 on climbs of varied difficulty.

I think I would like to keep the equivalent of the 48/12 gear, if possible - I could probably get over losing 48/11, although I have used it now and then.

Would there be potentially a problem with shifting when I exchange the chainrings on my Sugino to 46/26/24? I would love to get the smallest chainring down to 22, but I don't want to break anything - and I don't trust myself to never to use the big/big or small/small combination. It's easy to forget when you're tired after a long day of cycling.