I tried a mountain tamer with a 20t ring and I had trouble staying upright because my gearing was so low that I was going too slow. Apparantly you already know that you can go that slow since you have already used a 18t chainring.

I am using a 52/42/24 front, however next tour I will have a 46/42/24 so that I can use half step gearing. Rear is eight speed 11/32 SRAM cassette (11/12/14/16/18/21/26/32).



While it is important to have the gears you need to get you up the steepest hill that you will encounter, I also like to have a lot of gears in the range where I spend most of my time. This way, I can make a slight change of gearing for a slight change of grade or a slight change in wind. Unladen around town on pavement I am in the 60 to 90 inch range the vast majority of the time. Loaded touring (add 60 pounds) on flat gravel (rail to trail routes) I spend the vast majority of my time in the 45 to 75 gear inch range. With my gearing I have a lot of gears in the ranges where I spend most of my time and I still have a few low gears with my granny 24t for when I need them.

In other words my advice is to try to set up your gearing with more than just the lowest possible gears in mind.