Thank you all for the thoughts. I'm hoping to try a number of different set ups. As the bike is still a pile of parts I haven't found out whether I need to go with shorter 165mm cranks with the 650b. If 170mm cranks will work I'll be able to try a 46-30 up front. I hadn't realy considered running a half step and granny. That's how the bikes original gearing is set up. 50-45-32T and a 14-28t 5 speed. If I run a 7 speed cassette with a cog added on each end I can get a gear inch range of 24.4 to 118 which would certainly cover the range I would use locally.
1/2 Step+Granny