A buddy of mine just picked up an Aurora at our annual swap meet. It was last years model (2013) and he got a pretty good deal ($500) He just swapped out the rear cassette to a 11-32 without changing the Tiagra RD. We had to screw the B screw in a ways but it is shifting good without any binding. Based on what you stated as needs, if you change out the RD to a MTB long cage, I would go ahead with the 11-34 instead of the 32. No compatibility issues with the 9 spd stuff and bar end shifters. I'm 66 and more than a little soft around the middle so I use mountain gearing on both my Tourers along with road triples on the cross and road bikes. I'm getting 17.5 GI with a 44-32-22 and a 11-34 and 700-32 tires. At the speed I've had climb some of our hills in NE Mich. I've developed a very good sense of balance. I even managed to ride up Mifflin rd. and over to Dravosburg fully loaded before the GAP was completed.