Originally Posted by
HillRider
Unless you are going to tour extensively "back of beyond", I wouldn't worry about bottom bracket failure. In the unlikely event of failure, any half decent bike shop will have Shimano Hollowtech II replacement bottom brackets at reasonable cost and installation is a matter of a few minutes. Don't use the GPX experience as a guide to external bottom brackets in general. Shimano's, particularly 105 level and above, are fine.
The chainline on HTII cranks is defined by the spindle built into the drive-side crank arm and is fixed. The bottom bracket is not a factor.
your first comments are pretty much how I look at it, tks for the comments.
re chainline, afterwards I thought about it and of course the spindle is fixed, so the positioning of the cranks is determined by that. Thanks for clearing that up.
From experience I know I will go with a 44/32/22, taking into account regular touring load+plus possible extra weight of supplementary water, food if the situation requires it. If you have to be safe and carry lets say 10l of water, thats another 22.5lbs just there, so lower gearing is always going to be appreciated. Also, in Latin America gradients can be pretty darn steep. I've toured a fair amount and know what my old knees need for a given terrain/bike weight.