dhk said:You're right...totally missed the "forest" here. Changing from a 30/27 to a 30/29 isn't going to mean much vs hill training. He's already got a low gear on his triple, and the small additional change certainly isn't going to make a 10% grade easy.
For a new rider, a few more months of training and hill climbing is going to make a lot more difference than a small gearing change.
I´ve got the 52/42/30 set up with a 13-25 and a 13-28 and I would not want to go lower than 28 as at that speed any slower and your better off walking .
round town there are a couple of nasty but short climbs - they are hard to walk up - and you can´t get out of the saddle with the 28 as it´s too low while with the 25 it´s possible : on a mountain bike you can pedal up on 22-28 but it´s almost impossible to ride in a straight line it´s so slow , not good if there´s traffic about and your clipped in .