GaryinLA, Many race and roadster bikes from the '70s and '80s ran doubles, often 52-42T, with 5 and 6 speed freewheels. The race bikes had close ratio freewheels and the roadsters were wider ratio. My '80 Raleigh, a roadster had a 30ish" bottom gear.
There's basically two ways to have a better climbing drivetrain. First is the compact double with a wide ratio freewheel/cassette or a triple with either a close or wide ratio freewheel/cassette. I prefer the latter.
Brad