chris1548

I have all XT except for a Tiagra FD on our LHT's for both me and my wife and the setup works great. Top end speed is not an issue, having it low enough to get up a mountain in much more important. XT is durable. Same thing for wheels. Above all, you want them to hold up.

djb

just remember, a 34/36 combo will still only give you a 25 gear inch low, which depending on how much you carry, how steep things are, will most likely not be low enough--this going from my experience of touring with a bike geared like that and it being not fun (changed it to lower immediately)
I guess really only you will know what places you are going to be in, but with the very realistic weight you have guesstimated at (which is a very good estimate in my opinion) you WILL hit some steep stuff at some point and be wishing you could gear down more. I personally dont think its worth it, as good quality triple cranks can be had for $150 ish that will make your bike much more versatile, not cross chaining all over the place.

*last point, not sure if it was mentioned, but cassettes that go to 34 or 36 tend to have bigger jumps between gears, so a crankset that allows you to have nice low gears and a tighter rear cassette such as a 11-28 12-30 or whatever, will have smaller jumps between shifts (you would have to look at diff cassettes to see specific gearing and compare them to each other).
Having begun touring on a 7 speed, I appreciate how 9 speeds can have tighter jumps while still giving good low end, plus you will be using this bike as an all rounder bike (lets face it, touring will be done only occasionally) so it will be a nicer ride unloaded without a cassette with tighter jumps.

bradtx

teamtrinity, The XTR is great race equipment, but not my choice for a tourer. The bottom four gears on the cassette and the middle chainring are Ti, which seems to generate debates about how quickly they wear. Not on your list, but I suggest LX hubs for their steel axles rather than XT or XTR. If you're going to use linear brakes the STI levers will need Travel Agents.

Another possibility... Shimano has split the LX group into mountain and trekking. The trekking group isn't yet available in the US, but you may find it at PBK or Wiggle. Of course you can build with any of the road parts you have on hand and then replace what doesn't work out for later on.

Brad

PS I have a 22-32-44 crankset mated with an 11-30 8S cassette that works well. I have a trekking crankset with 28-38-48 chainrings that I'll try if I become curious enough.

LeeG

I agree. When I weighed 145lbs my touring bike and light load had a 37/49 with 13-32 seven speed freewheel. Managed fine up over the Rockies.

late

Mtn triple for me, but it all depends on what you can handle.

late

I have XTR hubs on one of my bikes.

But the rest is Ultegra or XT.

As a rule of thumb, I'd rather get Deore, and put the
extra dough into getting a nicer frame.

Parts tend to get more attention than they deserve (excepting wheels and tires)

fietsbob

a use of bar end shifters , since the left one is not indexed in 3 big jumps.
will work whether you use a 22,32,44 crank,
Older MTB, or what is now called a trekking set, 48,38,28 ,
or just change a couple chainrings on the road crank to a smaller outer.. 38, 48.

If you are young and or strong , the new 50/34 doubles
are seen on a lot of tourists bike's that came down the Oregon Coast.

Towing a trailer , means you don't even need to add racks and panniers to a light racy bike.

seen a few of those this past season too..

hybridbkrdr

What kind of difference do you think a frame makes?

LeeG

heck a 34/44 w. 12-34 9spd cassette would be a great touring set up. I really don't get the need for gears greater than 100" when the average power output is around 12-15mph on flat land and the power required to overcome wind resistance with a set of panniers at 25mph is only going to be found with a downhill assist. It's like getting a 100hp compact car then putting on two overdrive gears that can only be used on 6% downgrades. You can run the motor at lower rpm but you're not going faster.

fietsbob

well its... nicer.. (a nebulous concept requiring personal perception and self definition)

what would you like in a frame-set, as an improvement?

Thats OK Lee, my example was out of the box components,
you can swap chainrings if you wish. the folks I spoke of did not.

the crank-sets come out of the case lot box, and are put on the bikes by the manufacturer
in one configuration.
there are also some smaller outers packaged in Cyclocross doubles . 46 outers.
as there is a market for OEM to sell bikes built up with that crank
they can buy pallets of cases of that crank set too.

teamtrinity

Lots to think about. Thank you all very much.

I think I'm going to try to make what I have work. And load the thing up. Try to hit the steepest hills I can find around here. Depending on how I fair, I'll either stick with the road stuff I have or get mountain stuff!

Thanks a ton!!!!!

cyccommute 

I find 44 tooth chainrings to be annoyingly slow. While I can tear down the access road at work at 30 to 35 mph (or higher) with my road bikes, my mountain bikes spin out around 25 mph. At some point you either have to stop pedaling or you are bouncing all over the saddle. Much the same happens with touring especially here in Colorado where descents tend to be miles long affairs. Muscles go really cold when you coast for miles and miles.

I've never had XTR cassettes but I have had XT cassettes and I've never noticed any appreciable difference in longevity. In general, I've never noticed higher end components as being any less durable than lower end stuff. If anything the opposite is true. I have lots of XT and XTR components and none of them are delicate.

I also get the impression that teamtrinity may have this stuff on hand.

kayakdiver

I run Ultegra 6600 10 speed shifters... X7 Sram 2x10 26/39 crankset and XT RD with Tiagra Front D. Since switching to this setup I wouldn't go back to a triple.

fietsbob

I rode thru a number of countries during A couple decades of various trips ,
high gear a 95" , low gear ~ 18", [50/14, 24/34, 622 37 wheel]

what parts you use to achieve an adequate range is up to you..
want XTR? go for it. , its the chain turning with the sprockets that moves you

and the ratio that determines how much Ground you cover with each pedal rotation.
derailleurs just shove the chain from one to another..

djb

that 37/32 combo is a 31 gear inch low....
-you were a heck of a lot younger (freewheel is giveaway)
-"light load" extremely important two words
-ones knees over time generally appreciate lower gearing

listen, this is not a personal attack, but when one is talking about touring and inexperienced tourers read "it was fine over the rockies with 30GI gearing", its giving out a false impression of what gearing is "fine" for touring.

We all know that most people take too much crap when starting out, and even then, throw on 40lbs of stuff for self contained touring, combine that with steep hills and 30 GI just isnt low enough. Dont take my word for it.

djb

sounds like the best plan. Enjoy and if you feel like it, come back and share your impressions.

LeeG

I could be assuming incorrectly that teamtrinity is young and knows what it means to climb a mtn. In my case I was 24, 6mo after a ski injury that bashed my patellar tendon so I made SURE to go EASY up every climb. The funny part was that my high end custom touring frame made with 531 had a heinous shimmy requiring me to clamp the top tube on fast descents above 25mph. It was a fantastic trip.

Now I'm 225 and I'm maxed out on a 7 % climb with a light load and 31" gear.

djb

everyone is different strength wise, but the key factor is how much weight. Im always amazed of how 5, 10 lbs can make such a huge difference in steep sections, in how hard it is. The memories I have of really steep, long sections while touring when I had 25 GI are still unpleasant, partly I am sure because of excessive weight and gradient (both of which I have no idea of numbers, I suspect well over 50lbs) All I know that shaving off a good 10lbs off my next trip made a nice difference, and when I went into truly mountainous territory I lowered the gearing to about 21-22GI. No, I didnt use it often, but it was sure as heck nice to have it there for super steep switchback corners, or stuff leading up to a campground, or when really bagged at the end of the day.

I ride often with no panniers, often with one pannier with some stuff, and often with one pannier with lots of stuff in it, and am always amazed how the effort to do a hilly loop I regularly go on, just goes up and up with each added 5lbs, 10lbs, 15lbs.

but as you say, one can just only listen to their own body for what is doable for a given load and route.

(that said, I have friends my age , around 50, whose bikes in the past had too high gearing and just lived with it, but their knees are knackered now....)

LeeG

My old Schwinn 5spd and that injury educated me. Later on raced but always warmed up. Rode through a couple winters with 42/48 with 14-24 5spd. If the legs aren't spinning something's wrong.

escii_35

->Geek

Back to the op question about gears. 34/36 at a younger age and lighter weight will be fine. Road across the country, down the west coast twice and east coast once on a 28/28. I wanted more gears on two occasions; Going to the Sun road and Mt Greylock.

Approaching 40 I looked at a profile of Carson Pass and bought a 48-36-24.

At your age and fitness go for an older MTB or Trekking crank. A 32 in the middle will cause all sorts of shifting annoyance.

fietsbob

Given: 44:11 = 48:12 = 52:13

so the Q remains; 44t cr & what cog?

1 number does not make a ratio.

cyccommute 

Given the context of the discussion, the meaning is pretty clear.

There are few mountain bike cassettes offered that aren't 11-32 or 11-34. Also, other then freewheels, a 13 tooth high gear is extremely rare, if not unavailable.