This is wrong. The racer set dislikes the triples because gearing that low is absolutely useless for racing. If you are going so slow that you need something like a 30x25 then you are getting dropped anyway. For example, a race I'm doing this weekend has an 8% climb, last year I "spun" up it at 90rpm. I don't recall what gear I was in but I had a 53/39 with an 11-23 cassette so it couldn't have been any lower than a 39x23. According to the gearing calculator it was probably 39x21. If you needed a triple to get up that, you wouldn't be percieved as week, you would be week. For steeper or longer climbs I may use a wider cassette, and plenty of [strong] racers use compacts as well. But there is just no use for a triple in racing (with the exception of maybe some of the mega-steep pure hillclimbs).
Dude seriously are you just skimming or what. I never said a triple could be used in racing. I understand that you cant be dragging all that extra weight around with up and down every hill. But what the op has been suffering from is the perception that having a triple on your bike automaticly makes him weak, and should he care enough to go and swap allthat out. I did not meen to say that the perception of weekness comes from cycle racing type people like yourself directly. The perception comes from the non racing wanna be types who make this kind of judgement basd on a self delusion that they are as good as the folks that actually do race. Therfore thier equipment should also reflect what the racing scene dictates. As was posted earlier its a personal choice. As far as flexability in use for the non profesional a triple makes things way easier to manage. no changing cassettes, no giving up any higher end gears , no compromised gear spread for a few grams of extra weight. He is a beginer, in a hilly area, with a triple currently on his bike. Should he go spend hundreds of dollars he doesnt have to upgrade an 8 speed setup to a double just because someone might think he is weak?
In your earlier reply to the op you said many of the same things that I told him, to the point that I was wondering weather you read what was being said by others or not. While I dont directly disagree with any of what you said I find it to be more of hair splitting and issues of context than who is right or who is wrong. If you go back and read what I told the op you will find that I gave him advice based on the needs of a beginer, non pro, recreational, cyclist.