Originally Posted by
silver_ghost
Awesome bike vik. I'm always amazed to see people doing long distance riding on small wheels. Is your front derailleur there just to keep the chain from jumping off or do you run a double sometimes?
The bike was built with a double as I was unsure if the 1 x 8 would work. I haven't bothered removing it yet just cause I'm lazy.
The small wheels [once you adjust the gearing accordingly] have no significant impact on the riding experience. If you ride 120kms/day on 700c wheels you can ride 120kms/day with 26" wheels, 24" wheels, 20" wheels like mine, etc... This of course only applies to paved roads or smooth gravel roads/paths...going off paved roads larger wheels do have an advantage when things get rough.
As a bonus small wheels are incredibly strong which is a bonus for touring.