Doing the PALM with a Path?

[mrbeare]

I bought my Path about 2 years ago before they came out with the Path 8. I had my local bike shop where I bought it put a 7 speed internal hub on it to give me more gears but now am looking at doing the Pedal Across Lower Michigan. I am mostly concerned about the lower gears for hills since I am not looking to set a land speed record. The bike shop says that they could put a 2 or 3 gear crank on it that will help. This seems like a lower cost alternative to trying to sell it and getting a Cruiser. The only concern I have is will this work with the internal hub and will I have enough on the low end for steep hills?

[Jess_Kess]

The best way to tell if certain gears will work for you is to try them out. Climb hills that you will be climbing in the PALM, or similar to them. If your low gear isn't low enough to get up those hills, try a smaller crank on the front. If you want a lower low gear without compromising the high gears you currently have, then you will need to upgrade to a double/triple crank. This will require finagling with clamp-on cable stops since no cable stops are built into the Path frame.

Enjoy your ride!