I don't get it, what happened to your last Lynskey?
And given your experience with that one, you should already know what you want if you felt the last setup lacked anything.
Or, do you just want a bike with drop bars to park next to the one with flat bars?
Lynskey Backroad Build
I largely agree with this post:
Originally Posted by
Pratt
If I were in your shoes, I would guesstimate what the lowest gear-inch number I would comfortable with, then the highest. That would give you a couple of numbers to aim at. Then, decide how many chainwheels you want to deal with, 1, 2, or 3. Given that you live in Louisississippi, there might not be too much climbing and you might be happy with around 26 GI on the low end and maybe 110 GI at the high end.
Good luck
except that I would say you want about 20 gear inches for a low gear. And I think it should have a triple crank unless you have a specific reason to want a double.
I have toured in the mountains and I think a low gear of about 20 gear inches is about as high as you want, 16 would be nicer but I had a preference for a road triple so when I built my Lynskey I was limited to no smaller that a 24T granny gear.
For touring I like bar end shifters, but I recognize that some people do not like them so if you have a preference, just follow your preference.
My Lynskey with a road triple where I have a 24T granny and 32 big sprocket on my 11-32 cassette has a low gear of 20.7 inches. That bike has a 46T big chainring and with the 11T sprocket in back, high gear is 115.5 gear inches.
Other than that, I have not re-read my comments from a couple years ago at the thread I listed above, but I think it unlikely that I would say anything different today than I did back then, I still love my Backroad build.