I'm working on my 60's Gitane and thought about changing to a cotterless crank and then realized the old Nervar cottered crank may give me the best of both worlds at 52-36 - some top end on the descents and plenty of low for the hills. I'm a moderately strong climber (still in my 40's) and will be using a 14-28 rear cluster. I doubt 36-28 will get used much other than to help out in the 25 mph headwinds we sometimes have.

Other than this the lowest I have on any of my bikes is 39-26 and it works good for all but the 9% and steeper climbs - for those I'm usually out of the saddle. Fortunately, there are not many around here that are that steep.

My dad is 70 yrs old this year and is just converting to a 50-36 and leaving the 13-26 rear setup. He feels that will give him plenty of gearing for climbing.