Originally Posted by davidmcowan
Ragboy,
What kind of touring have you done with the CrossCheck? Have you ever had to haul over a mountain? I ask because I'm accustom to hauling ass on a fixie over big hills but half the reason for the changeover is to avoid these knee problems. I'm leaving work early today so I may stop by Salvagetti and test ride a couple of the bad boys they got over there. Can't you have them put a triple on the bike in place of the double compact cranks?
Yes you can replace a double with a triple. But it does cost. You'll have to replace the crank, bottom bracket and, likely, the front derailer. If you are lucky you won't have to replace the shifter depending on whether or not the manufacture spec'd a double or triple. It adds up pretty quickly.
Edit: I'll take back the shifter comment. The Crosscheck uses barend shifters.