A very interesting thread. My Cannondale T1 came with a 50/39/30 X 11-32 geartrain giving me 122.7 GI's at the top and 25.3 at the bottom. It wasn't the ideal set-up for touring and to be quite frank made little sense even when I was riding without my trailer. The top ratios were too high even on the downhill runs. I could spin but not spin out. I swapped out the crankset for a 46/36/24 unit and I now top out at 112.9 GI's and have a granny sitting at 20.3. That gives me the bottom end I need for pulling the trailer up a hill but still sticks me with too much gear at the top. I'll get a 13-29 cassette when I wear out the present unit. That'll give me 95.5 GI's for a top end and 22.3 at the bottom. My goal would be to have more usable gears at the top end knowing that I will probably spin out on the big downhills.

My singlespeed road bike is set up with 73.6 gear inches and I find that it requires some power work to get up the steeper hills and I spin out on the downhills. But it has made me a much smoother spinner.

I'd like to put a road bike together with a 46/36 crankset married to a 12-25 rear. With a 27-28mm tire that would give me a usable 102.6 GI's high to a manageable 38.5GI's low. Not necessarily competitive on the local racing circuit or the club paceline but it should be quite usable for the 58 year old century rider / day tourist. Al