Originally Posted by
banerjek
44-28 ain't really a granny gear even if it's noticeably better than what he has.
If he's rocking a 55/44 crankset, it's almost certainly too big for him. We don't know what kind of bike he has (or what he considers a climb), but it's very possible that anything yielding decent climbing combos will cost more than his bike is worth.
Yes, I am running a 55/44 crankset. It is an old bike but still has very high quality components, so I would rather upgrade the cassette than get a new bike. For the record, it has all Campy SR components.
Also, the climbs that I mainly do are around 10% grade for 2km. I make it up but with extremely low cadence.