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?