Originally Posted by
cwcaesar
Not entirely, I just really don't like a triple. I had one on a cross bike and I was always cross chaining, dropping the chain, and it just didn't give positive feedback for me. I hold nothing against those who have them, but I just don't care for them personally. Maybe if I had had a better experience previously, I would give it another go.
See if you can borrow a triple bike for a while and try those hills with it.
I guess the only realistic solution you're going to have if you're intent on not changing derailleurs (assuming 10 speed?) is going to a compact 34 and using a Tiagra 12-30 cassette. I've heard the 12-30 works fine without a long cage. That gives you 34/30 which works out to about 40rpm @ 3.5mph. Still not really optimal but you get to stick with a relatively compact spacing in the cassette.
Another option would be to go for a long cage derailleur and slap an 11-32, 11-34 or 11-36 on the back. These gears are widely spaced though so they lose the nice 1-tooth increments near the top end.
34/32 works out to 42rpm @ 3.5mph
34/34 works out to 45rpm @ 3.5mph
34/36 works out to 48rpm @ 3.5mph
There's a new cassette coming out next year from SRAM that makes me laugh. It's a 10-42 cassette, designed for single cranks, and probably won't ever work on a road type bike, but just for fun:
34/42 works out to 55rpm @ 3.5mph
And on my crank:
26/42 works out to 72rpm @ 3.5mph. Daaamn. That's for, you know, whenever I feel like climbing the face of El Capitan, or something.
All figures were calculated assuming 700Cx23mm tires. 25mm and higher will obviously decrease the cadence to maintain the same speed since you're traveling more per each pedal stroke. Similarly going to 26" tires will increase the cadence.
So anyway, as I see it, those are your options.