Ordered my Trek 520
 

Just a thanks to all for the advice. While on vacation in Kingsport Tennessee at my daughters I stopped in at Larrys Bikes shop just to look and ask about when 2008 520"s can be ordered. the sales rep Looked it up on the internet and said I can have it here in 2 days for $1129. I asked if they accepted trades and they offered $3oo for my 8 year old Cannondale Silkpath. That combined with what I was able to save over the summer commuting $580, I only needed less than $400 on the plastic Peso. They will finish fitting the Shimano shoes, computer, and adjusting the seat and handle bar height Friday. Oh yeh, they gave me 10% off any accessories I bought with the bike too. I've never ridden clipless. My buddies said to make sure I stop by telephone poles until I get used to them (:-)...

The new 520's now have a Tiagra Front derailer instead of the 105 and the Crank set up has been changed to 50-39-30 istead of 52-42-30 which is an improvement. How is the Tiagra derailer?

Later, Mike....

Congrats on the new bike. Nothing to worry about with the FD.

I'd change to an LX MTB 42-32-22 crank. That's even more of a gearing improvement when mated with a Shimano Mega-Range 12-34 cog.

+1 if you will ride fully loaded. If the bike is just for commuting or light touring, you can leave it like that.
nJoy the smell of new ;)

I have a 26-36-46 on my new LHT. It will be great on tour, fully loaded, climbing steep hills, and I'd even like to try a 24 or 22, but around town I'm missing my 50-tooth top chainring. My top speed on flats or slight downhills isn't very fast. I think I'd really be frustrated with a 42.

I'm going to look into buying two sets of chainrings - one for around town and one for tours. I typically go on only one serious tour per year in the summer. I wouldn't mind a few hours making the switch if I didn't have to do it too often.

Correct me if I am wrong as this isn't something I do, however...

Are there any limitations to which chain rings you can put on which cranks?

There are, but not as many as you might think. One consideration is the Bolt Circle Diameter (B. C. D.) You have to get that right so the holes to bolt on a new chainring will line up. See http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/chainrings.html. You also have to consider the capacity of the drivetrain to handle a range from high to low. From what I've heard, the capacity of most setups is wider than people think, especially if you have a triple setup.

Short answer: I had an idea for installing new chainrings to give myself a wider range. I just emailed Sheldon and asked if it would work. He replied the next day to say that it would be fine. Thank you Sheldon! (Everyone - patronize Harris Cyclery!)

Crank out the tension almost all the way on the pedals until you get used to them. That is, if you have the single release cleat.

26-36-50 will not have problem with the derailiur, e.g chain falling ?