BikeCalc.com - Bicycle Gear Inches Chart
we can do the math, or rather, plug in the numbers. what were the tooth counts on those triples and cassettes?
i have in my garage a GT Karakoram, vintage is 1992ish, as best i can tell, it was a CL find. the rings are 48-38-28, the cassette is 12-32. it obviously has 26 inch wheels, these are shod with period-correct Panaracer Dart and Smoke tires which are 2.1" wide.
>>>>> the gear inches range 23.06 to 104.83.
my full suspension bike is a 1x11 with a 30t ring with 12-42 cassette, it rides on 27.5 x 2.25" tires.
>>>>> the gear inch range goes 19.52 - 68.73.
so, as mentioned, the top gear is lacking. but the lowest gear on my 1x11 is significantly shorter than the granny gear on my GT.
------------------
what if your reference triple is 42-32-22? with a 12-32 cassette, you're looking at 18.08gi in the granny.
change the 1x setup to 28t ring with a 12-42 cassette and your low is 18.42gi... wheels and tires, as above.
you can use a 28t ring for your 1x if you are concerned about climbs. or use a bigger ring if you live a world without mountains. you can spec a tighter cassette, like 12-40, or a wider cassette, like 12-46. if you can climb it on your 90s rigid bike, you can probably climb it with 1x.
but they do sell doubles, still.