Hi folks,

Well, I wore out the original rear wheel (5 speed freewheel) on my '85 Specialized Sequoia. I had the rear triangle spread to 130mm spacing and got a nice sturdy new wheel. My barcons can shift up to 8 gears, so it's time to get a new cassette and now I figure I might as well get a new chain (it's stretched) and some new chainrings. The Sequoia came with 50/46/30 chainring combo I actually enjoyed. I like a wide range as I live near the many steep and prolonged hills outside of Silicon Valley. A 1:1 low gear sees more use than I'd like to admit. But when commuting (34 miles round trip) it's flat and dialing in cruising gears in the middle of the cassette is nice. Rear derailleur is Deerhead so it can go fairly wide, I believe.

So, what would be your advice for me, as far as spec'ing out a nice intuitive wide 3x8 cassette/chainring combo to gracefully meet my needs?

oh, and I'm poor, well at least as far as what my wife I'll allow me to spend....