its possible that the original owner changed the crankset from the oval shaped Biopace stuff to this at some point, but not knowing the age of your bike, who knows. There still is a very good chance, almost guarenteed, that the bolt pattern (called BCD) on this crankset is such that you can change the 30t granny to a smaller one.
As mentioned, this is a standard road triple. At some point the vast majority of road triples became 50/39/30, the bike I bought about ten years ago to replace the Kuwa came with one, and I was able to change the 30 to a 26t to get the low gear lower, as I knew from experience that I needed it for touring with panniers.
go to the sheldon brown gear thing and you'll see that this gives that bike a low gear of 29 gear inches, 28.9
and this is why back in the day, even if young, it would be hard on the knees going up hills....
I dont know the specs on that rear derailleur, but a google search of that rd with a model number stamped on it somewhere might get you an answer of its max cassette size, probably 30, but who knows, I havent looked into specifics of whats available in 7 speed cassettes for a while. Last time was replacing a freewheel, and even places like MEC have sunrace 7 speed freewheels 11-28 for 12 bucks or something---but you need to read up on cassettes vs freewheels and then figure out what your bike has...
You can always find cheap used rd's that can handle a wider cassette also
and a new chain, but 7 spd are maybe 12 bucks or so also
in other words, you have options to get lower gearing inexpensively, especially if you do it yourself. if you have to pay a store to do all this , it will add up.....but thats bike stuff, and bike stores have to pay their rent and equipment and mechanics....
but then you've been wondering about getting 36spoke wheels also...but if you get a good bike shop to check out the existing wheels, tension spokes properly, if they are in good shape you might be ok, but you weigh 70lbs more than I do, so who knows....I'd ride the bike as is and see how it is.
good luck reading up on gearing and the specifics of this bike
and then maybe a granny gear change
so you could get this bike geared lower
Thanks for all your input djb...
I was expecting to see a 26 tooth chainring on my crank...I used to ride 90s mountain bikes and was used to the triples on there. The 30 tooth is a little bit high for my tastes and getting a 24 tooth seems easy enough to do. They are cheap at the moment as I think most people nowadays are into 1x systems. I think my maiden voyage will be happening with a full load of items as there are a lot of things I have to bring. It will be a short ride to the campsite as my legs aren't used to cycling, even a short distance with a full load will test me. A 24 tooth chainring is definitely in my future.
I have a place I like to go for most bicycle things when I'm not able to do the work myself; it's closer to my home and its good work done at a reasonable rate. I'm not sure if this mechanic who works out of his garage has much experience building wheels but I might ask him; I'm also hoping to purchase some spokes and figure I can do that at the same time. I just ordered the rim, I have the hub and tire already so the spokes are the last piece of the puzzle. When the funds come to me they will go towards the wheel build.
I find this forum to be great...not only is it a good way to spend idle time but it's an amazing source of information. To all of you who have taken the time to write I thank you.