Originally Posted by
McBTC
Sure, I agree but when talking about what 'most would ever need,' I was one of the few over the years that rode nothing but triples so most road bikers had nothing close to a 1:1 and for tourists on road bikes, Trek's venerable 520 pretty much sets the standard in my view as far as what 'most would need' when touring. Standard equipment on a new 520 is a 48/36/26 triple teamed up with an 11-32 cluster --e.g., a low of 21.43 gear inches yielding a speed of 5.10 mph at 80 rpm. And, that's with 25c tires; OEM tires on the 520 is 32c which raises the gear inches to ~22.
Yeah, I agree that 15 inches is lower than most will ever need and it may be counterproductive. A 26-27 inch is probably not high enough for most for loaded touring assuming a traditional touring load; here is where lightweight touring will have an impact on gearing selection. I think the trek 520 is a good benchmark as well and that puts you in the low 20s.