Originally Posted by
bikemig
Lastly, for touring you might want to ditch the 36 and go with something more hill friendly like a 28; this will give you a half step and a granny gearing.
By the way, turning this into a 3 x 7 is not difficult.
Looks the the crank arms BCD will not easily allow a ring smaller than 36 nor will the front derailleur. A quick look around shows new touring bikes are sold with a front ring in the 22-26 range and a 32 large cog in back. To get the sort of ratios that come on modern tourers I'd have to replace the FD and crankset. Maybe my knees would thank me...