Originally Posted by
seypat
The OP basically answered his own question in his post. The main advantage the triple has is that you get to keep the high gearing of the standard double. All you are doing is adding a 3rd ring for climbing gears. Or options. You like that 53/39 except for hills? Then keep it and put a 30 on the bottom. There you go. Or go to a classic 52/42/30 road triple. Geared on the high side, but still got the granny for bailouts. You can keep the same gears in the back, or even get a tighter cluster. Best of both worlds.
And with a 130/74 triple, there's always the option of 48/38/28 or something like that, too. I think it's a really under-appreciated set of BCDs.
