Changing of gearing for touring

[NerfMiester]

I have a Focus Ergoride and I am doing the three towers (London, Paris , Pisa) next year, we will be credit-card touring so light rack on the back. Currently on the back I have a 9 speed 11/25 combo with a tripple 50-39-30 at the front and was wondering if a 11/34 setup might be more applicable to those pesky alps. Any thoughts on making a bike designed for audax into a more comfy tourer appreciated. I have changed the saddle to a brookes and intend to take the 23 tyres up to a 28, I was considering also some wider bars (currently on 38cms).

 

[MePower]

Sounds like a good ride you have planned, your front rings are fine, 11-34 will give a good range, remember that a long cage rear mech will be needed.

 

[willem]

Yes wider tyres and a wider bar are a good idea. I am not so sure about the gearing. 11-34 involves some perhaps unnecessary expense. 12-27 will make a bit of a difference, and if and when you need a new cassete in any case (your trip is some way into the future so you have time to wear out the existing cassette, or keep it to put it back opn after the trip), there is no additional expense involved. Similarly, if it so happens that you need some new front rings, there is something to be gained there too (48-38-26?). If it does not need new rings, a 28 instead of a 30 will not break the bank.
In general I think I would not worry too much. If you can manage steep hills in the uk, you can manage the Alps (they are mostly long rather than steep). Focus your attention on lightening your load. That makes a much bigger difference when you are climbing, and it makes your bike behave much better.
Willem

 

[GrumpyGregry]

^^^^

what willem said

 

[Crankarm]

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Use the above calculator to work out your current gearing and the gears you think you will need. Do some cycling loaded up in the UK to see how you get on. eg Devil's Stair Case or Hartside Pass.

28C tyres have a slightly larger diameter than 23C.

A 26x34 gear is insanely low. It would he quicker to get off and walk . Can one cycle that slowly without falling off ?

As suggested try to travel light.

 

[NerfMiester]

Thanks for the replys, the lightening of the load has begun, I'm trying to shift some of my (considerable) girth before the trip. Why do you see the 12-27 preferable to the 11-34.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I've done credit card touring in northern Spain (bits are like half size alps) with a 34/50 - 12-27 set up and it was fine, a 30-27 gear should be plenty low enough.

 

[Landslide]

I went up Alpe d'Huez with panniers and a 39/28 bottom gear. It really is the length of the climbs in the Alps, not the gradients. 12-27 will give you a much more usable spread of gears, without the big jumps between the ratios on the 11-34.

 

[willem]

Your current rear derailleur has road bike design limitations: officially it will not take a sprocket larger than 27 teeth, and even if you can certainly get away with a bit more, you cannot get away with 34 teeth. So you would need an mtb derailleur. Similarly, there is also a limit to the total chain length difference, and it is 37 teeth. 22 teeth difference in the front (such as in 48-38-26) and 15 teeth in the back (such as in 12-27) is precisley within the official range. Again, you can fiddle a bit, but not enormously.
Of course, if you need lower gears, then 34 teeth and a new rear derailleur is the way to go (or an expensive IRD casette with e.g. 29 teeth that will just work with your existing rear derailleur). The question is whether you do need the lower gear. I have a lot of experience with loaded touring bikes, and there you really need the lower gears offered by mtb gearing. Heavy loads make all the difference in the world. On the other hand, for a credit card tour on a lightish road bike, you need not and cannot carry the kind of load that would require such low gearing.
You did not ask about bags, but you will need some. Your choice is either a Carradice saddle bag or a Tubus Fly rack plus I think a set of Ortlieb frontrollers used at the back. The city version is some 25% cheaper and 25% lighter. Don't fill them to capacity.
Willem

 

[Crankarm]

If you are travelling light on a road bike a 53-39 chainset and 12-25 cassette on the back will be fine. It was for me doing the Cols of the Pyrenees . If carrying a bit of luggage I would still say a triple on the front 52-42-30 with the same cassette on the rear would be fine.

 

[willem]

You are obviously stronger than I am Crankarm. Admittedly 30 years ago 52-36 and 14-28 got me up any hill around Cambridge, or anywhere else in the UK. But not anymore, and using that same and now old bike this year on the admittedly very steep and scorched hills west of Jerusalem where I am living for much of this year, the same 36 front 28 rear were a 'challenge', even with no more than 5 litres of water in a pannier as my only luggage. I only had to walk once, and only briefly, but it was tough and hard on the knees, and I learned the lesson that this bike now needs lower gears (or I need a new modern audax bike). So by all means NerfMiester get lower gears, but stick to the simple solutions, and don't take much luggage.
Willem

 

[andrew_s]

Try it and see.
You should be able to ride up a 10% gradient in your next to bottom gear without getting out of the saddle. If you start to have trouble pedalling normally, you'll want lower gears for the Alps.

You should carry a similar weight on the bike, and ideally the hill would be a steady climb (no arrows) and you'd go far enough or fast enough to the bottom of the test hill that you aren't too fresh when you get there.
Also, 10% means climbing 100m in 1 km. Signposts generally report the steepest part of a hill, and it may only be that steep for 30m or so.