Originally Posted by cyccommute

First, it's best not to start a thread by insulting people. Maybe those of us with low gearing...24 teeth on the front isn't all that low...are just more experienced. When the road turns upward, trying to struggle along at 3 mph in a gear that you can barely turn over is a whole lot harder to do and harder on the rider then spinning up the same hill in a lower gear. You'll still get to the top and arrive in the same amount of time but one is going way is going to leave you breathless and the other is going to let the scenery take your breath away.



Appalachia is going to teach you a whole lot about climbing and gearing. Be prepared. It will kick your butt, take your lunch money, kick you down the stairs, remove any organs that it sell on the black market and then turn around and stuff your hide to hang on it's wall. In 600 miles you will probably be going up more and down less than you'll do anywhere else in the US. It's incredibly odd how that area can have uphills that go on forever followed by downhills that are more up than down.

As to the ring, you crank can take a 22 (actually it can take a 20T ring which you can find on Fleabay). Shifting from the 36 to a 22 (or even a 20) isn't that difficult nor outside of the Deore front derailer's ability. I'm currently running a 20 tooth inner with a 34 tooth outer and shifting it with a Tiagra front derailer. I've never had a missed shift or thrown the chain off to the inside. It shifts up and down just fine. The Deore, coming from mountain biking, is even better optimized for the task.

Changing the ring is a piece of cake. With the Deore crank, you loosen the two fixing bolts on the left side, wiggle the left arm off and gently tap the right arm out. Now you can remove the ring bolts and swap the chainring. Reassembling the crank should be obvious. Tighten the fixing bolts to manufacturer specification. You may need to shorten the chain but I doubt it.