Lightning Riders

The stuff you have in mind should work well. Recumbents used in hilly areas usually benefit from triple cranksets, wide-range cassettes, and long-cage rear derailleurs to handle the wide gearing.

My experience is mostly with Shimano components. They work well and last a pretty long time. Other riders have had good experiences with SRAM derailleurs and shifters. I like bar-end shifters and twist-grip shifters, because they do not project downwards from the handlebar and get in the way of my knees when used on recumbents.

I think the crispness and dependability of your shifting is oftentimes more dependent on the quality of your cables, housings, and cable routing than it is on how expensive your derailleurs are.

Sheldon Brown (R.I.P.) has some good articles about this on his website.

Oh, one more detail: you describe your bike as being early 90's vintage. If the rear wheel has a Shimano 8sp cassette hub, you are good to go. It will accept a nine speed cassette too. But if your rear hub is a Sun Tour, or a 7sp Shimano, updating your drivetrain will require a new rear wheel.

Safe riding,
Joel