Originally Posted by
ciquta
32-11 still gives 35km/h which is faster than I need to push when fully loaded. If a descent gets me faster than that it probably won't last long, and it's nice to recover a bit in the meanwhile (and I dare you to spin a 40-11 at 90rpm with 4 panniers).
Besides, 99% of the tourers won't hard-tour on top of the Appalachians, most are happy with some regular hills or riverside bike paths. Many doesn't even carry full camping stuff.
In case you can always slap a 28t upfront and Bob's your uncle.
I toured loaded with tent through 13 different countries with 3x, 2x and 1x... I really don't miss worrying for chain rubbing and cross chain.
I will never go back.
doesn't take much of a hill to spin out a 44-11 even with 4 panniers. Almost all european countries have some major hills where spinning out a 44-11 is more than possible. Of course spin out rpm is individual but you get my point.
I started out with a compact double, went to a triple, toured thousands and again thousands of km's with that, tried a 1x11 for a while and decided I hated it, went to a mtb double and am now building a new disc trucker which will have a triple.
I relly don't like the 1x for road or touring. Works great for mtb where cadence isn't a word that's used. But for road even with a 11-42 11-speed cassette I'm constantly in the wrong gear. I much prefer a 11-34 and a 22-34-44.
I wouldn't generalize so heavily. Bicycle tourists are a diverse bunch. I'd wager most are interested in more than river routes (though river routes are pretty neat)