My Thorn Sherpa has a pretty basic Deore MTB crank on it 42/32/22 mated to a square taper BB. The square taper BB is a good choice as it allows for larger bearings than splined BBs such as ISIS or Octalink without going the route of integrated external bearing crank/BBs which are not ubiquitous and have some longevity issues in wet/dirty environments. For an expedition touring bike easy parts replacement and long service life are critical issues.The existing crank is geared quite low so I took the opportunity to put a 36T middle chainring on it. Ideally that will give me a good range to cruise in and climb most hills without having to do a lot of shifting up front. I think my ideal chainring setup would be 46/36/26. I'll run with the new setup 42/36/22 and see if I am motivated to swap out the other two chainrings or if I end up just leaving things like that.
The 42/36/22 combo is not an ideal option for the LX front dérailleur, but the beauty of friction shifting is that you can get almost anything working acceptably.
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