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pic related is around what many roadies who did a lot of climbing in the 90s used. Still 7 speed (same wheel and derailer as above) It allows a tight cassette (12-23), and is basically a double 53,39 + a 30 for climbing. That's a road triple setup. It's still not even that much range. The low gear isn't as low as the compact & 11-28 which is pretty ubiquitous now, or the semi-compact +11-32 which pro riders often use for serious climbing stages. So it's hardly 'granny' gearing. It's good enough though.
The main reason this went out of favour is that shifting a triple with indexing is horrible. With downtubes, you can trim and shift it much more easily.
IMO, this is still superior gearing to a compact double + wide 7/8 spd cassete + sti shifters, because of the tight gaps it gives.
