With the current drivetrain, 48 38 28 crank, 8 speed 11-32 SRAM cog, Alivio front/rear, Ultegra bar-ends and 622-35 Continental Contacts on a 35+ lb Schwinn Super Sport on Tiagra/CR18 wheels, my 225-230 lb self and 2 panniers and a lunch box. My shifting pattern that feels the best to me (I've tried other patterns), is to start with 38x16 (64.5), 48x16(81.5), 48x14(93.2) usually my cruising gear, maybe 48x12(108.7) on a nice straight aways with no stop signs. So the 16, 14, a little of 12 tooth cogs are bearing the brunt of the work for the majority of my rides. Sacramento is a fairly flat town but I intend to use this bike for loaded touring one of these days and like the low gears when going down dirt trails with rolling hills. With the 44 28 crank, assuming I use the same gear inches, I'll start of 44x18(66.4) then just click up to 44x12(99.6) or even 44x11(108.7) for a use of 4-5 cogs rather than 2-3. Coming to a stop from top gear would allow me to brake with the left hand, shift down back to proper gear on the right. I like this shifting pattern and experience this on my other road bike with a compact crankset. I also like the gear range. My issue is how to make this work, what issues hardware wise may arise. The current setup is not annoyingly bad, I can live with it but I prefer a more simple shift pattern and to spread out wear on more cogs.