Hi folks,

Well, I wore out the original rear wheel (5 speed freewheel) on my '85 Specialized Sequoia. I had the rear triangle spread to 130mm spacing and got a nice sturdy new wheel. My barcons can shift up to 8 gears, so it's time to get a new cassette and now I figure I might as well get a new chain (it's stretched) and some new chainrings. The Sequoia came with 50/46/30 chainring combo I actually enjoyed. I like a wide range as I live near the many steep and prolonged hills outside of Silicon Valley. A 1:1 low gear sees more use than I'd like to admit. But when commuting (34 miles round trip) it's flat and dialing in cruising gears in the middle of the cassette is nice. Rear derailleur is Deerhead so it can go fairly wide, I believe.

So, what would be your advice for me, as far as spec'ing out a nice intuitive wide 3x8 cassette/chainring combo to gracefully meet my needs?

oh, and I'm poor, well at least as far as what my wife I'll allow me to spend....

I'd use the 13-26 eight speed cassette: https://m.ebay.com/itm/291262259324 If you want a wide range for hilly terrain, consider this 48, 38 & 28 crankset: https://m.ebay.com/itm/390954672470?nav=SEARCH .

My 3x8 divetrain uses multiple cassettes depending on the steepness of the ride. I'll use a 12-21 at home where it's pancake flat, a 13-26 for general riding and a 12-28 for hilly century rides. The bike has a 52,42 & 30 chainring set.




I also use a 48, 36 & 26 chainring set with a 12-24 cogsets on this bike;

The 13-26T 8-speed gets my vote as well -- with 700x25 tires, you're looking at a range of 47-94" on the middle ring. Plenty for cruising in the flatlands and some mild hills.

To have many flat options while retaining big climb ability, what I would do with the 50/46/30 is try to find a cassette that allows decent half stepping across the larger two rings. Have a cassette something like 12-28 or 12-30 so you can preserve your nearly 1:1 climbing gearing on the little ring.

I find with a half step plus granny you have lots of options:
You can Half step when you need that perfect gear into a steady wind
Whole step when the terrain changes and you need a big change quickly
And, the bigger gaps on the rear cassette are not a nuisance when on the 30 ring spinning up a steep hill.

I like a 12/28 with a 50/34/24 combo. Hard to spin out, good climbing gears, lots of options.
If you own a couple of cassettes already, it's easy to mix and match the middle gears to suit the ones you use the most.

My thoughts exactly.

I ended up going with this option, only slightly tweaked to 48-44-28 up front and 11-30 in the rear. Since most of my miles these days are flat commuting (at least 100+ miles per week) , with only weekend forays into the hills, this gives me many small jumps in the cruising range, and I only need the small ring for those dastardly steep hills around here.

Now trying to decide on new tires.... 700x32 is my max size, I believe.....

I would have simply gone to 9 speed with a lot more cassette options than 8.
Cassettes are about the same price, although the chain will be a few $ more.

Good point, but my shifters will only handle 8 speeds, even though they're friction

About 1mm difference?
It's kind of hard to believe that would cause a problem.

13 - 26 gets my vote as well, assuming you'll be sticking with an 8sp triple.