One of my bikes has a 42/26 with an 11/34 rear cassette. The crank is a Sugino 110/74 triple, the rings are TA and the BB cartridge is Phil Wood. The rear cassette is Shimano XT and the hub is a White Industries MI5 and the rim is a Velocity Dyad. As staehpj1 says with bigger than 16t gaps the shifting becomes an issue, derailleurs are running out of spec and dropped chains are a problem.
Another bike that I tour on has a 46/34 FSA front crank, the 46t ring is Sugino. The rear is cassette is SRAM Rival 11/25 on a Dura Ace hub and Mavic Open pro rims. I plan to go to a SRAM 12/36 rear cassette and SRAM MTB derailleur.
Last edited by nun; 10-01-12 at 06:04 AM.