Originally Posted by staehpj1

I have had zero issues with front brifters and triples with lower gearing. Granted bikes often come with 110/74 bcd or similar that limit the middle rings a bit on the high side, but I have swapped cranks and found the shifting was still fine with a 46-36-24. I have not gone lower (or wanted to), but I bet you could and still have decent shifting. The little half click positions were adequate for trimming. Granted I kind of don't see the point of indexing in the front, but I have not found it to be a real problem either.

BTW, if you go with lower gearing across all three rings you may benefit from adjusting the FD lower. I think some folks complaint of poor shifting with small rings is because they didn't get that adjustment right.