Originally Posted by
kombiguy
My bike currently has a 50-39-30 front ring set, ans an 11-36 sprocket set. Using those numbers, I get a gear inch low of 22.6
If I were to change to a 26 tooth low gear on the front, that would result in a gear inch of 18.1
Is that really a significant difference? Or perhaps my question might be rephrased as, how low a tooth count would I need on a front ring to make a significant difference?
You can play with different gear combinations and see what kind of difference they make using this tool:
Bicycle Gear Calculator
That page will show you how each combination moves when you change chainrings. But it seems your question is more about how the different gear combinations will feel. I think a difference of 4 gear inches will feel significantly easier to pedal, but you might only need it for very steep climbs or for loaded climbing on long grades.
You're also going to have less redundancy in your gears if you only change the 30t to a 26t. On your current setup, your middle ring only has 3 gears above your small ring. If you reduce the size of your small ring, you will have 4 gears above your small ring when you are in the middle ring. That said, you have a lot of redundant gears already in your drivetrain. It probably makes sense to space out your chainrings more to get the most out of your cassette. I would consider a 24t small ring, a 36t middle ring, and keep the 50t big ring. Here's a link to what that would look like versus your current setup:
Bicycle Gear Calculator
Good luck!
Edit: I just realized my suggested setup require a derailleur capacity of 51. That might be hard to setup.