Continued from post above:

The gearing I have results in the following gear inches (Schwalbe Dureme 26X2.0 Tire), the two most cross chained gears for each chainring are not used:



When I switch to the 46t chainring instead of the 52t, I will gain a gear in the 50s and lose two gears that are only used on long downhills.



The point is that when cost was not an issue, I chose to use a triple 8 speed system because of the benefits and it gave me the gearing that I wanted. So, don't feel that only cheap bikes use such a system.