2.52 is pretty light; common among urban riders who sacrficie top-end for quick jumps off the ubiquitious lights. Unless your difficulting in starting is always uphill, then Id say yes, you need to eat your wheaties.

One other possiblity; I'm no 3-speed expert (thats 2 more than any bike I've ever owned), but is it possible that when the hub was 'converted', the internal
gering was left intact? If so, perhaps youre actually pushing much more than 2.52. Quick and dirty way to tell; borrow a multi-speed bike; set the drivetrain to (as close as possible to ) 2.52, and see how it feels relative to your bike.