Well, a lot of that-- being driven nuts-- can be alleviated with better equipment. Or I should say, "better-suited" equipment.

Surprisingly, a lot of modern front derailleurs don't deal well with a small tooth gap between middle and outer. Shimano made one specifically for half-step; I like the SunTour Mounttech; and as the Colonel stated, a Huret front works pretty well.

The other thing is that there's too much space between the middle and outer rings for a crisp shift. The chain can sometimes drop between the two, which seriously sucks. The T.A. rings can solve this problem, at a cost. A hefty one. I've been lucky enough to have access to a mountain of spares for mix-n-match, and I've pretty well got my stuff dialed in. But now I'm thinking about going to a 42-46 up front (as I have a Stronglight 93 with these rings mounted) and that would let me respace the Trek to 130mm in the back and use an 11-28 8-speed cassette for 15 pretty evenly spaced gears and only one duplication.


Cassettes and freehubs are such a slippery slope. I'm afraid if I do this I'll be wearing spandex and riding carbon in 6 month's time, and a year after that I'll be gelling my hair and wearing Oakleys, and after that there is just no return from that bleak bourne.