Originally Posted by
ClemY
Being older, and much heavier, I like even lower gearing. I like the older 94-58 cranks that go to 20 on the grannie. I gear mine with 20-32-42 with a 12-36 9 spd cluster. Do I have more lower gears than usual? Definitely! But at the end of a long, hot day on a long, steep hill, they can be a life saver. These days I seldom go lower than the 32 front, 36 rear, but they are nice to have. I find my cranks on ebay.
I have an LX compact road triple that will accommodate a 20 tooth granny... with the availability of cassettes with a 36 tooth low I could get down to 14 gear inches on my touring bike if I decided to install that.
If the OP replaces her crank with the 22/32/44 and uses the stock cassette the low will be 17.5... most would find that to be a low enough gearing.