tiagra 4700 triple vs. Athena triple... is there a 46-30 double option out there?

I would imagine 470x Tiagra four arm triple chainsets don't have an option of a smaller inner than the standard 30T. If a smaller inner is required how about bagging 105 5703 while they are still available? I understand they will take a 26T - possibly 24T? Failing that a square taper old MTB chainset and fiddle about with bottom bracket lengths, or the Spa options as already mentioned. 

Let us us know which way you jump? 

Similar recent discussion here:

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=98339.0

I've not looked too hard, but it seems that the Athena is at least £200-300 more expensive in the UK.

 Unless the look or feel of Campagnolo is important to you, I can't imagine it being worth the price premium over the Shimano.

I can't comment on the Tiagra but the Athena is limited to a 30t inner ring because Campag bottled it with their latest triple chainsets. Instead of carrying on with the earlier design which had a separate 74mm BCD mounting point for the smallest ring they just bolt it to the middle ring now.

I have the older design which meant I could fit a 26t for a recent tour. Very useful when my bike weighs 14.5kg unloaded yet alone the extra weight of two big panniers and a handlebar bag. You can go even lower to 24t on 74mm but the 135mm inner/outer BCD means 39t is the smallest middle ring which means quite a jump down to the inner ring. 39/26 was just about OK - I never used the 48t outer at all in the 5 days I was away!

The other advantage of the older Campag triples is they run on sealed cartridge threaded bottom brackets which are a much better bet than the Powertorque system Athena uses.

There are other chainstes available like Stronglight or Spa Cycles own brand ones which allow for more sensible chainring combinations.

Agree, for commuting I like the 46/36 of a CX chainset.  I've been thinking about a bit of light touring sometime, and a 46/30 would probably be perfect for me with the bike weighed down.  As we see more 1x bikes, surely we should also see a smaller 2x chainset for touring replacing the triple, with a wider cassette at the back.

It's a known issue. You need to cut your post and paste it all into the other window.