Tim: I've not read some of the replies from recently but my 2 cents is to go with the Rivendell standard triple with a 24 tooth granny and the 12-36 Shimano cassette. While one may not use the lowest gear often, it is certainly nice to have & does not require giving up anything to get it. A variety of factors can make such an extreme low gear useful: health issues, age, gradients, altitude, loads, heat, you name it. I've done several tours in your area and the San Juans, and those frequent short steep hills will have you often going for the low gears. With modern drivetrains there is no sensible reason not to have wide range gearing on your bike.
dougP On Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 12:16:50 AM UTC-7, Tim Butterfield wrote: > > Thanks, Joe and Toshi. I suspect I will be able to make good use of a > super low a gear. I would have to go out of my way to do it, but there is > a climb here in the city of Anacortes, WA I would like to be able to do. > It averages 7% grade over only 0.3 miles, but has a section over 17% > grade. At my current state, that is merely an aspiration. There are a few > others of 6-7% grade over a few miles and even some over 10% grade for 1.5+ > miles and those are just on this little island. Just north of me are some > 9+% grade for 3+ miles (along Chuckanut) and going just a bit east are the > Cascades and Mt. Baker, which will have even more intense climbs. I wonder > how long it will be before I would feel comfortable attempting something > like those. To give you a bit further of an idea of what is around me, > that is part of the Cascade 1200 route (http://www.cascade1200.com/), > which start/ends in Mt Vernon, only half an hour east of me. Here is the > route and elevation for the last day of that ride: > https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13566556 So, with just a relatively short > drive, I can get way more punishment than I can handle. :) > > Cheers! > > Tim > > On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 10:44 PM, Joe Bernard <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Absolutely, Toshi. My apartment is at the top of a short-but-steep hill, >> and it can be a bear at the end of a ride. That 24 x 34 combo means I can >> continue to spin instead of grinding out the last desperate mile. I love it. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> <javascript:>. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
