Originally Posted by
Troywanker
that makes sense, I may see what I can pick up from the shop in lines of cheap new wheel set. my 700c have alot of miles on them and the rear already has a couple blown spokes that need tending to. And ill start looking into front paniers. oh and im going to see what we have at the shop for different chain rings....I dont for-see a 52 being utilized all the much. anyone know a fairly average travel speed for touring? im guessing somewhere around 10mph? I can move but by no means am I a powerful beast either. I love sprinting up hills but Topekas also relatively flat/long gradual hills so they arent exactly the hardest things to conquer.
If you haven't done the math comparing ratios of different gear combinations it's easy to obsess but it'll help to eliminate useless gears. Most cassettes have an 11 tooth small cog which gives as high a gear you will practically use with a 42t chainring, yea 52 tooth was common back when freewheels had a 14t small cog for the average "10 speed" but in your swapping wheels around you might find silly combos. If you have an old road crank like the bike in the picture you can get adequate low gears with a wide cassette in the rear while carrying a couple of useless high gears. You may find it difficult to find smaller big chainrings without spending as much money as a cheap mtn. crankset. If you can get a mtn crank on that bb. You'll have all the low gears you need even if it means taking off the inner ring to fit the bb.
10mph is an easy average over time while your riding speed might be closer to 12-14.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/