Originally Posted by
fishboat
One man's opinion..by all means do the 26t to 22t swap on the front end as it's cheap.. but at the end of the day(whether doing the chainring swap or a crankset swap) you're only picking up 3gi (about half the difference, or a little less, than any gear change you currently have..take a ride, do some shifting, and feel the difference). If you'll have issues with hills on the road, the root of the issue will be 60-70 pounds of "stuff" rather than the lack of 3gi.
but that change from 19 or thereabouts to 16 or thereabouts is basically the equivalent of one downshift lower, which is still pretty nice
but yes,
not carrying that much weight (his estimate remember, he hasnt packed yet) is probably the biggest factor also, but even with less weight, having that one gear lower equivalent will be appreciated and will be used.