So after doing my research, including this great site. I've pretty much decided to get the 2009 Jamis Aurora Elite. The most determining factor has too be...price. A $1400 bike is pretty pricey esp for a college student like me so It helps that I work at a bike shop that sells nothing but Jamis so I can get the bike at cost (insert your jealousy here). My research included making a spread sheet of all touring bikes (I could find) for under $2000 for 2009, about 15 models. It took me 3 weeks to rank the bikes according to price and components. at the top were the LHT, Aurora, and aurora elite. I did a thorough calculation of gear ratios and found that exluding a bike that didn't have a triple chain ring the Aurora Elite has the worst gear ratios out of any touring bike, that is to say the difference between the lowest and highest possible gear ratios is smaller than any other touring bike. Craptastic. Its interesting to note that most people say that its geared towards the higher end, but compared to other touring bikes thats not true. The aurora elite is geared in the middle-high so most of the other 09 touring bikes have faster gear ratios and ALL of them have better climbing gear ratios than the Jamis AE. So basicly your stuck with 10 speeds, not geared high or low, with no recognizable difference between each cog. It really is laughable.
So in order to fix the gearing this is what needs to be done
option 1 -cheapest
change the cranks
This is gonna be the best option for most people, its the simplest and the cheapest, but not the best. Well anyway, im not most people, I'm a bike mechanic so simplest isn't an option.
Option 2
change to a better ranged 10 spd cassette and derailluer with acceptable capacity
IRD makes a wonderful 10 speed cassette geared 11-32/34t. I discovered this cassette by looking up another 2009 touring bike which it comes on. Its also affordable even to the consumer. Heres the kicker though, Shimano road derailleurs (aka Ultegra on the AE) arn't really rated for the ridiculous 32/34t cassette and if they are, they can't handle the capacity of the large 50t chainrings on the Aurora elite. (despite this, the touring bike that comes with the IRD cassette uses an Ultegra derailluer, but with really small chain rings to compensate for capacity) While most mtb dérailleurs aren't intended for 10 speeds, It really shouldn't matter. If you look at any catalouge the 9 and 10 speed road dérailleurs are the same model. As a side note there are those who say that 10 spd stuff isnt as reliable as 9 speed stuff most notably that cassette, however if your breaking your cassette your probably doing something wrong........
Option 3
change the entire drivechain to a 9 speed system -what i'm doing
new 9 speed STI Ultegra Shitfers (from 10spd 105), new 9 speed 11-34t SLX or IRD cassette (from 10 spd 105), new XT long-cage derailleur (from Ultegra). This option eliminates all my problems. I imagine if you go to a LBS where high end components move fast you can get them to change out your 10 spd system for a 9 spd at little to no cost, since 9 spd stuff is cheaper anyway. Since im buying at cost, ill end up making a nice profit selling my 10 spd stuff even after buying the new set up. maybe I can afford the bags I want.......
if your confused about the terms capacity, or want to discover the truth about derailuers I recommend sheldon browns site
