Pastorbob, I hear you; on this trip, anyway, I don't think we'll be heading too far away from Lake Champlain, so the climbs shouldn't be too extreme. I hope. Anyway, I'll be dragging a Burley trailer, so she shouldn't have to carry much. Am I a nice guy, or what?
The triple conversion on my '84 Peugeot was
much easier, by the way -- no need to mess with the bottom bracket, which is good, 'cause it's Swiss.
As for the Atala, I'd like to put on a smaller granny, but I'd worry that it wouldn't clear the chainstay. And frankly, I don't want to take that crankset off again unless I totally have to. A bigger rear cog would be nice, at some point -- have you got a 5-speed freewheel with a 30 or 32t on it?