Having grown up in Pittsburgh, I feel your pain.
At the end of last year I bought a 1970 all Campy Gitane Super Corsa. It had 52/45 chainrings with a 14-30T Regina Oro freewheel. The Campy NR derailleurs handled those gears without a hitch. I changed the 45T chain ring to a 41T and it still shifts fine.
A Campy NR rear derailleur can handle up to a 30T freewheel on many frames depending on the the chainstay length. I've even seen an old Cinelli with a 32T freewheel.
With rear cogs that big, you probably wont be able to use the largest rear sprockets with the big chainring.
42T x 30T = ~37" gearing. 42T x 32T = ~35" gearing. The hard to find 41T chainrings only drop it down about 1"
I just finished building my early 70s Alpine Cycles beater with alpine gearing - 48/38 on the front and 13-32 6 speed on the rear. Where I live in the Oakland, CA hills it's all up!
http://www.flickr.com/
Another possibility as others have mentioned is to install a long arm rear derailleur. That makes it a lot easier.
I used to run half step gearing with 49/45 chainrings and a 5 speed 13-26 freewheel. For climbing in the mountains with bags I'd switch to a Shimano Crane long arm derailleur and Shimano 14-34T freewheel. I kept a spare longer chain for these lower gears.
The Shimano Crane was prettier than the Suntour VXGT plus I suffered from vanity; how good could a $7 derailleur be? ;-)
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Bob Schwartz wrote:
> Hello Fellow Enthusiasts,
>
> I have a '82 3 Rensho with NR components. The gearing is not low enough for
> my advanced age and the surrounding terrain. It has a 52/43 crank and a
> 14/24 Regina freewheel. I think if I can go to a 32t cog that should give me
> what I need. Does anyone know where I can find the appropriate derailleur
> and freewheel. I know a lot some would just buy another bike but
> unfortunately that is not in the cards. Thank you.
>
> Bob Schwartz
> Pittsburgh, PA