What’s general consensus on touring bike gear ranges?

I assume something like 24-34-44 sort of spread at front – rear – 12 to ? 30/32/34 –
— any advantage in retaining 8 speed at the back?

Sort of being done here…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/proper-touring-bikes-anyone-know-much-about-them

I run a road triple(52/39/30) with an XT 32t cassette

20″ to 100″ ‘ish’ should do you right

Sora 50/39/24 triple and a 11-32 9 speed cassette here kCal.

The bike came with a 30 tooth granny ring but I had to swap it for something grannier.

Depends on fitness and where you are riding.

I’d go lower than 30T granny, 24 ideally, then 32t rear. Should be good for 4 panniers in the Alps.

22/32/44 with 11/32 here. I figure that low gears are good 🙂

Thanks for t link and numbers, I’m not sure I’d use 50 much on a certain road bike so might go bit lower on a tour oriented machine!!

38/28 chainrings x 11-40 praxis cassette for me, gives a 19.2″ low and a 95″ high which is a decent range, I previously had a 11-36 xt cassette 21.4″ low gear which i thought was enough but the praxis 40t just makes the hills so much easier thus i enjoy more of the ride.

Forgot the link doh..
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/internal.html
Good for comparison of current and possible set ups.

I’m 22-32-42 and 11-34. Though I’m going to a 12-34 to avoid the 17-20 jump.

Suggest you think how you would gear a 1x? bike. Then go for a triple with the middle that size. So you are then on the middle ring most of the time. You have the granny ring for steeper/longer hills and the big ring for mega tailwinds/long downhills.

Is there any advantage to having 8 speed at the back (or is it a disadvantage these days) ?

I’m running 9 on the tandems and tourers. Easy to get good replacements without losing quality.

It used to be argued 8 lasts longer than 9, 9 longer than 10, 10 longer than 11 etc. I’m not sure how much this holds true between 8 and 9 but on longer tours, availability of parts is also important. I also seem to get similar mileage from 9 speed parts as I did from 8.