Originally Posted by
MagicJade
This is true! I am doing brevets on Specialized Tricross with 34-46 crank and 12-27 cassette. Any climb at the beginning I am able to do with big ring in front must be done with small on return. There were so many brevets I wished I had at least one more small gear.
I am now looking into a new bike and the first thing I am considering, is to move from compact crank to triple and have this extra gear just in case.
I say this with a degree of humour, but with some seriousness... if you are doing a climb in the big ring, it is not a climb.
If you do randonnees in flatlands, a triple will be just a waste. But if you intend to graduate to really challenging randonnees and especially the 1000s and 1200s, a triple will be a good addition.
None of my randonnees have been on road doubles, and very few on road triples. Most of them have been on bikes retrofitted with MTB triples (most often a 22-33-44 but more lately a 26-38-48, and either 32-11 or 34-11 cogs on the rear. The tandem has even had a 36-11.
Weatherby is right about bike selection. Sharp angles, short wheelbase, stiffness and narrow tyres are good for speed, but over a long period in the saddle, all those factors can become extremely tiresome. I've gone the route of carbon (older-style Merlin) and Ti, and yet I still come back to my bikes that are ostensibly set up for touring because comfort, for me, is way more important a factor in finishing a randonnee than stiffness and the illusion of speed that some bikes present.