Originally Posted by
Bekologist
a 50/34 mated to a 11-36 tooth cassette will get a rider 25 to 123 gear inches with a 35c tire. this is a wide range of gearing. 25 gear inches is pretty darn low.
I agree, though it does depend on the rider's abilities and how steep the hills are.
For example I did a short credit-card tour of Ireland where the lowest I had was 28 gear inches without too many problems. However a tour of the coast of California, with about an extra 10 pounds for camping gear, benefitted from lower gears.
(Also iirc the Apex cassette is an 11-34, not 36, so his setup would be closer to 28 than 25.)
As such I'd think a wide triple setup is a little more versatile. Not required, but possibly worth the trouble, especially when paired with bar-end shifters.