Bike and gearing suggestions for hilly touring please

RadamRing

Hi All,
I’m speccing a new bike for two goals:
Firstly, the Nürburgring 24 hrs, which needs a relatively supple ride to cope with the combination of surfaces and speeds on the track in decent and a wide spread of ratios to cope with the long and steep climbs. Secondly, some touring in the Dolomites, Alps and Pyrenees; my knees wont thanks me for anything much over 30/26 while wearing a pack going up and I’ll be more comfortable on a sportive on the way down.
I’ve had a few test rides at my LBS: Spesh Allez (too stiff) and Secteur (bit sluggish) and the Cannondale Synapse Alloy. The Sy has just the combination of speed and stability I’m looking for. Any others I should consider?
One gearing option I have thought about is going for a compact and swapping the cassette for an 11-32 XT with an XT mech. Anybody have any experience of this sort of set-up? I know I’ll have wider-spaced ratios but the extra on each end is attractive! This would give me 1:4.54 top and 1:1.06 bottom gear as compared to 1:4.16 top and 1:1.14 on the triple. It’s also the same as the cassette I have on my MTB so I’m used to the gear spread.

Points in favour of the compact/MTB cassette seem to be:
• slightly less weight
• easier-to-set-up front mech
• better quality shifts at the front
• wider spread from top- to bottom-gear
• lower Q-factor

Points in favour of the 50/39/30 triple seem to be
• closer ratios (not really sure of this will ever be a real benefit to me!)
• not such a big change in ratio when moving between front rings as compared to the compact
• greater choice of usable ratios in any one front ring
• easier to get correct ratio without cross-chaining

Have I missed anything here?

In short:
50/39/30 triple with road 9sp or 50/34 with MTB 9sp?

desweller

Budget?

I'd always go for a triple on a tourer, even a light tourer. I certainly haven't found that setting up of front derailleurs to be any more straightforward with a compact chainset and triples are much more convenient in use. The only downside is the weight penalty and that's hardly worth worrying about.

I'd also be thinking about a Carradice style saddlebag or some other way of putting your payload on the bike rather than your back.

grazza_e

I'd go for an SRAM Apex based set-up. You get a solid, if not spectacular road gear-set, and up to a 11-32 rear cassette. I generally favour a compact vs a triple, but you can get various arguments for both, but i hate messing about with front changes all the time, particularly on climbs. Apex is a entry level group-set, but I think SRAM Rival are now compatiable with these bigger cassettes also. I know you 'can do' it with an MBT set-up, but the fact with SRAM it's designed to work with the large cassettes would give me more peace of mind, i'm sure the other manufactures will catch up soon and offer similar group-sets. You can also simply drop a more 'normal' rear cassette on your bike with little faffing about required after your big rides if wanted.

There are loads of bikes in the category you are looking at, I don't have a specific recommendation, you sound like you are doing the right thing trying a bunch out, main thing is to get something that fits / feels right. I have ridden the Bianchi Via Nirone in similar price range, can't complain, but you will probably get a better spec on something not italian!

Hoopdriver

DesWeller wrote:

Budget?

I'd always go for a triple on a tourer, even a light tourer. I certainly haven't found that setting up of front derailleurs to be any more straightforward with a compact chainset and triples are much more convenient in use. The only downside is the weight penalty and that's hardly worth worrying about.

I'd also be thinking about a Carradice style saddlebag or some other way of putting your payload on the bike rather than your back.

+1 both for the triple and the notion of getting a Carradice-style saddlebag rather than carry gear on your back. A saddlebag is far better than a backpack or rucksack.