Custom Gearing is Here!
For any of those who don't know, the Sport Check in the Scarborough Town Centre is going out of business... and so they are having a closeout sale. No, this is not a promotion for the store - I simply saw a 7 speed wide-range cassette on sale at that store for 30% off, dropping the price to $15. Knowing that my bicycle's gearing is a bit high for fully loaded touring up big hills (I'm not super strong, either), I took the opportunity and bought the SRAM 12-32 gear cluster to customize my ride. Unboxing I didn't have what one would call a "high" low gear before this upgrade - with 700c wheels, an 11-28t cluster in back and a 22-32-42t front crankset allowed for a lowest gear of 21.5 in, and a high of 104 in. I almost never used that high a gear, bust still had some trouble up hills with that low gear (especially on tour/ with load). The new 12-32 casette drops a little high-end, in return for a greater low-end; a gear of 18.8 in to 95.6 in. Strangely eno...