Wide range double

nun said:

I'm setting up a 700c touring bike and I'm cosidering the following combination
to get me 100 to 20 gear inches

42-24 crank set
11-12-13-15-18-21-24-28-32

I know that widely spaced doubles were used in the past, but does anyone still use them successfully. If so, what components?

I've been looking at your choices and believe a Shimano 9-speed cassette can be customized with your choices. The front derailleur, though is problematical in that you have a wide spacing between your 42 and 24. You may not have good shifting with such a big change. It is not impossible but not the best choices. You may do better to use a triple up front.

Insight Driver said:

I've been looking at your choices and believe a Shimano 9-speed cassette can be customized with your choices. The front derailleur, though is problematical in that you have a wide spacing between your 42 and 24. You may not have good shifting with such a big change. It is not impossible but not the best choices. You may do better to use a triple up front.

Yes my starting crankset was 46-36-24, but I looked at all the duplicated ratios and thought why not a wide souble. I know the shifting up front will be
an issue, but it used to be quite common to have a wide double

Insight Driver said:

I've been looking at your choices and believe a Shimano 9-speed cassette can be customized with your choices. The front derailleur, though is problematical in that you have a wide spacing between your 42 and 24. You may not have good shifting with such a big change. It is not impossible but not the best choices. You may do better to use a triple up front.

as long as you use a MTB long cage mech then no problem but that front shifter´s gonig to be a problem - better stay with triple chainrings , it´ll conserve your chain better as well .