Wordbiker

I would recommend riding the bike first before investing too much money.

One of my customers bought a Specialized Roubaix triple, and due to reading too much on the internet, felt he needed the lowest gears possible. I swapped out the rear cassette for an 11-34, changed the rear shifter to 9-speed, LX rear derailleur and a new crankset that would accept a 26t chainring.

The end result was a bike that didn't shift as well as the original, was heavier, and when he took it on the Triple Bypass tour (120 miles, 10K elevation gain), found he had gears that were so low he had a hard time keeping the bike upright at the speeds they allowed on even the steepest climbs.

The real irony is that we didn't even get as low a gear inch as he originally wanted.