Triple chainrings on a road commuter?

[Nukuhiva]

So I got the entire Shimano FF Sport BB, cups and all, off my 1970's KHS, and since the 39/53 Shimano Integer chainrings are very much an integrated part of the system, they will, along with the rest of it, be shipped to the Museum of Obsolete Bike Stuff.
I am thusly presented with the opportunity to play around some and change it up more or less to my will and whim.
One of the possibilities would be to equip my trusty classic with MTB-style triple chainrings. It is a commuter bike, and there are some pretty steep sections here, the eastern edge of the city kind of crawls up the mountainside.
Anyone have experience with doing something like this and how did you like it?

 

[vspa]

I think the problem would be in the back, for a 70's bike, the rear hub spacing would be shorter than today's bikes, so a modern hub and cassette wouldn't fit, and a triple would hardly work, (im not sure though)

 

[dabac]

The rear don't care much what's going on at the front, so you should be OK to keep your old rear wheel if you wish. And swapping in a triple front is doable, but may prompt some further changes to get it all to play nice. Front derailer throw may not be enough to deal with a triple, either by itself and/or in combination with a given bottom bracket. Chainline may get ugly too.

Unless you have access to parts at no cost, I'd actually suggest asking a shop to fit the BB/crankset. If they're good, they'll get it right the first time.
If they're less skilled, they can still do trial fitting and only charge you for the parts you'll actually end up using.

I have a MTB triple on my commuter. The granny gear pretty much rests unused until winter strikes. Snow, and heavy studded tires make it come in handy every now and then.

I don't miss the supposed loss of top end at all. I can hit 25 MPH / 40 KMH, which I find rather suitable for urban/city riding. Any descent that gets me faster than that, I'm happy to coast.

 

[alienator]

You could also just a regular old road triple crank. It's still give you a really low granny gear. The road triple will give a better chainline.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Hang on a second...

Was't the Integer that weird crank with the freewheel built into the bottom bracket? If so, you WILL need a new rear wheel with cassette / freewheel assembly or your going to end up with fixie with gears...er...something like that.

 

[Nukuhiva]

Double freewheel - you got it.
The Integer system (or what's left of it) is now ready to be shipped to the Museum For Obsolete Bike Parts.
Anyway, I fit a new 53/39 chainrings (Suntour), a shiny new BB (plus special tool to install it) into the budget, the nice folks at Yellow Jersey got me just what I needed.
The front derailleur did indeed prove to be a problem, despite the fact that I decided to go with the same gear ratio the venerable old KHS had before. 3 different road derailleurs (2 Shimano, 1 Suntour) I had - including the OE - did not have enough lateral travel to shift onto the larger chainring, so I thought outside the box a little and tried and old MTB derailleur left over from a long forgotten cheapie department store type bike. Smoo' lahk buddah!
On a test ride today - the bike had now been hors de combat for about 5 months - I discovered that the rear derailleur is toast (no surprise), I have 2 I can try, the original one that came with the bike (see Obsolete, above) plus the one that goes with my newly roadiefied MTB front one.
Does putting MTB equipment on my commuter beater road bike maye it a 'hybrid'? The rear tire's a Tioga Bloodhound, which is about as 'aggressive' as a 27" tire gets......

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"Double freewheel - you got it.
The Integer system (or what's left of it) is now ready to be shipped to the Museum For Obsolete Bike Parts."

Damn! I thought those thing disappeared a decade ago! Glad you got things worked out.

 

[Nukuhiva]

Shimano Singapore FTW!
In addition to the cheapie front derailleur, KHS now has the matching cheapie rear derailleur also. The cable retainer bolt took some convincing from Mr. Hacksaw to let himself be removed (slipping) and replaced by just Ye Olde Bolt & Nut (not slipping), but the first test ride went ok. A little more fine-tuning needs to be made, but it looks like Old KHS might be back in action soon.