Originally Posted by
Andy_K
The lowest available gear isn't really the point. With a triple I can cruise around using the whole cassette with my 39T ring and only drop down to the granny when I get to the hill. It's just much more usable.
My commute bike has 48/36/26 crank and I use the 36 almost exclusively with maybe 4 gears around the middle of the cassette. My 48 ring is pretty much unused. My road bike I use the 39 almost exclusively too, but I find myself in the bigger gears on the cassette. I imagine that with a 34 I'd be using the 34 most of the time, just on a different part of the cassette.