Does this bike exist?

[emily_in_nc]

For sure, it is always more cost effective to get the gearing/group set you want, up front, rather than adding, later. I would like to see the bike manufacturers offer more lower geared performance/endurance class bikes like Emily wants. Seems like they just assume that if someone wants a high end road bike, they must be Tour de France competitors. Or maybe they think we're all young males.

I do okay with a standard compact double 50/34 up front and 11-30 on the back on my Domane WSD for the country we have here, on the roads I bike, but I still find myself bottomed out on some of our steeper hills, even now after getting back into prime bike shape. Be nice to have an extra gear or two in reserve. If heading out into new, unknown territory, though, I opt for my Fargo with its more MTB like gearing. Out in real mountain country, though, I'd only go a triple up front and I'd still be looking hard at the gearing on any particular model.

Best of luck, Emily. I may be doing the same kind of shopping at some point. Be very interested in what you find.

Thanks! Like I said originally, this is a next year thing for me, but I will certainly be posting about it when/if I decide to pull the trigger either way.

I do get what you're saying. A 34 front, 30 rear is still not the lowest gear around. I am hoping for at least a 32 in back, and I'd love a 30 in front, but I am not sure how many performance road bikes even offer triple cranks any longer -- probably not many. And we don't ride monster hills all that often, but when we do....

This one we've been riding daily here to get back to the campground after visiting town looks like this in Google maps:

Attachment 18066

Even in my lowest gear on my Bike Friday (30t front, 32t or 34t, can't recall which, in rear), I am in my easiest gear and tacking like crazy (plus panting) to get up it. Today we rode our MTBs, and it was a leetle easier with a 22t front ring. My legs are fine, it's more the cardio that is so tough. I did determine that I can go 3.9 mph without falling over, however!

Fortunately, these kinds of hills are few and far between in our riding. Normally they're either steep and short or long and gradual. Those I can handle. It's the steep and long ones that kill me, and since we're traveling all over the country, we never know where we may encounter them. My DH thinks I just need to train more and harder, and I am sure he's right, BUT sometimes we go from very flat areas (say Florida, or parts of the midwest) to very hilly areas in just a couple weeks of traveling. That makes it hard to train for the hillier areas.