Another lover of the triple here. I ride an Ultegra 9-speed triple and I LOVE it. I don't have knee problems, I'm quite strong and I LOVE hills and riding in the mountains. My bike came with the triple, but there was never a day where I felt I needed to change it out. There were often months at a time where I didn't use my granny gear at all, but it's there when I need it.

In fact, I remember passing a guy I was riding with on an uphill and he said "hey, no fair, you have a triple!"...I yelled back "sure do, but I'm in the middle ring right now...what gear are you in?" There are plenty of guys (and probably women, too) who think having a triple means that you are less of a rider. And of course, the weight-weenies will tell you that carrying around that extra chain ring when you hardly ever use it is stupid, but it weighs what, a couple of ounces? Whatever.

If you are planning on 6-gap, you'll be very thankful to have those lower gear options, I promise!

(and if, heaven forbid, you ever gain a bunch of weight like I did...you may find that a triple gear gets a bunch more use than it used to! )