Assuming balance is my limiting factor, and I can't balance below 3.1 mph, would a lower gear really help me? (thinking aloud here)? Is it that, with a lower gear, I'd be able to maintain 3.1 mph with a higher cadence (bearing in mind that, as you said, shorter cranks usually mean higher cadence)?
This might be a less general question than it seems. As in, it could depend on your likely use of the bike. Will it be a mountain bike and mainly ridden off-road? Will you be just doing day rides or loading it up for multi-day bikepacking trips? For example.
Whether you want a lower first gear isn't necessarily just about whether you could use it to pedal steadily up an extremely steep hill. For example, one reason why I like the extremely low first gear that I have (15-in) is that it allows me to negotiate very steep, very tight turns with more comfort. I might be travelling so slowly mid-turn that balancing requires a fair bit of skill and attention, but that is just for a few seconds and it's helpful that I can adjust that very low speed very easily even on a steep gradient.
That's just one example. And against gearing lower in first than your Litespeed is that the narrower Rohloff range means your top will be markedly lower even with the same first.
BTW, have you ordered a Thorn, or are you speccing a custom build from elsewhere? You might get better information if we knew more about its application. (Apologies if you explained and I missed it.)
All good questions. I didn't want to overload information in my first post, so didn't address these questions.
Your scenario of other circumstances where lower gear would help adds to my library of "if ... then" questions. (The central question being Why do I want low gears?)
In terms of how the bike will be used, it might help to give a bit of background:
Currently 64 years old, former athlete and PE teacher, didn't have a "real" bike until I was 40 years old, when I bought a second-hand classic Colnago Super Mexico. Absolutely loved riding 100's of miles each week on the roads of middle Tennessee with a wonderful cycle club. I continued to ride the same bike on roads of the southern States for 10 years, driving my bike to various challenges, mostly centuries of the Imperial kind (miles).
After those 10 years, I returned to the UK and realised I had no desire to replicate that mileage on British roads, for many reasons (safety being foremost). Thus the purchase of a second-hand Litespeed hardtail, and riding a mix of "off-road" (I wouldn't call it mountain biking - nothing really technical) and a bit of "on-road". Thus, I suppose my style would be what's now called "gravel riding". I've only ever done day rides, with some brief holidays that would involve multiple day rides from a fixed base. But the plan is for this to change.
I recently retired and want to make the most of having much more free time to ride. During lockdown, I bit the bullet and booked three cycling "package holidays" of various kinds, to figure out what kind of cyclist I want to be in retirement.
My main motivation for cycling is maintaining fitness - I love a decent hard ride. The other benefits (being outdoors, meeting people, etc.) are icing on the cake.
To get to the point of your question, (1) Although I might occasionally use it for mountain biking, I know from a recent MTB weekend that I don't want to do anything technical - life is too short to sit with a broken elbow in a cast for weeks on end (actual experience, 2 years ago), (2) would definitely continue to use it for day rides on quiet roads, canal towpaths, off-road tracks, etc., (3) hills will always be part of my rides - I get a kick out of getting up them, even though at the time I question my sanity), and (4) I want to do more multi-day rides, either fully supported ("package holidays") or self-planned. A typical day ride for me would be between 25 and 60 miles.
As two examples of my new direction of travel, I plan to do the Trans Cambrian Way next spring, and am seriously thinking of riding LEJOG next September, though it will be supported (won't be carrying all my gear).
I decided to buy my first "brand new" bike during lockdown, as a retirement present. I looked at various options, from off-the-shelf (Van Nicholas) to "semi off-the shelf" (Koga Signature), to "semi-bespoke" (Shand, Thorn), to "fully bespoke" (Quirk, Beaumont). In the end, I decided to go for fully bespoke, from Smithy Frameworks. Chris is a lifetime blacksmith who now builds a restricted range of frame types, all flat-bar types - so, Enduro, bikepacking, etc. My bike will be based on The Mule, which is a bikepacking/touring bike that can take racks and panniers or, of course, bikepacking bags. I don't see myself doing any of the ultra-distance exotic touring trips some people do, but I love to plan, and would enjoy longer, multi-day trips taking in various places on the way.
Maybe too much information, but hope that helps to clarify things!
[Last point: I take on board your caveat about "lower bottom end gear also means lower top end gear". I'm off for a 4-day trip on the Litespeed next week, and intend to really take nore of what speeds I do at bottom and top end!
