Originally Posted by A10K

My commuter/light tourer is set up 42 x 11-28 (8 speed). Its been a great range so far, I could go with a 12-30 on occasion, but I've also yet to encounter a hill that I can't take (at least with a minimal load). I think you should ditch the 53, I did (my crankset is the remains of a 52-42-30 road triple). Unless you have lots of long descents or big tailwinds, you'll almost never even touch 42x11, much less anything higher. It also makes for better chainline to use the middle position on a triple, with a guard on the outside/inside (depending on how many bumps you plan on hitting).