Originally Posted by
cyccommute
A 44/34/22 has a great low end but the high is a bit too low for most road riding. If you use an 11-34 mountain bike cassette, it will give you a 108" high which is kind of low by current standards.
I don't know about that; that same 44 x 11 (108 gear in.) at 90 rpm cadence on a 700 x 32 tire yields a speed of almost 29 mph. Very few people are going to achieve that for long periods of time with the added wind resistance and weight of panniers. The more I've used this crank over the years, the more I find it works for loaded touring.