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Old 10-31-05, 09:37 PM
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Mentor58
'Mizer Cats are INSANE
 
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Originally Posted by javna_golina
yes but this is a light tourer, not a fully loaded tourer.

Go with whatever suits you, but me personally if I was building a light touring bike I'd gear it a little higher. If I was building a fully loaded touring bike though, I'd use that gearing.

But we may have different definitions
Yepper, and as I posted on another thread along the same lines, that is one of the nice things about touring folks in general. We view the whole smorgastborg of parts, and pick what will fill up our plate just nicely. Mtb RD with a road triple FD, Suntour Barends with Disc brakes, Leather seat with a showercap to keep it dry. All are good eats at the 'house of touring'. If somebody else wants the straight road menu, welcome aboard too. Somebody else is going for 26 inch wheels, 40 spoke hubs, gearing that will pull a tractor from a bog hole, well that's the diet for them.

I know that for me, I'm most comfy on multiday rides with lower than normal gearing (at least by most folks norms). One thing is that for me my natural cadence is around 100 or so, and any time I get much below 90 on the flats I think I must be grinding. Because of this, I like having the lower gears, it works for me. If you're not quite as enthuastic a 'spinner' as I am, well there is bound to be a combination that please you too. I'm actually hoping this winter to spend some time on the trainer working on lower RPMs to build a bit more strength there.

Build what you think you need, and after some miles you may want to change things. Cassettes are cheap and easy, chainrings too. As for me, I'd love to put together something like my first tourbike, I think it was a old Trek, (may have been a Peugeot, I forget). Had it set up with a half-step + Granny, and if I could duplicate that now, I would. Simple to shift (for me), drove my friends crazy.

In other words, your Roast Beef and Gravy may be my Liver and Onions.

Steve W.
Who is in a rambling mood tonight.
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