One of my preferred setups for pleasure riding on my Moto GJ is a 13-14-15-16-17-19 with 36-49-52 single step plus granny combo. Single step makes the shifting dead simple, which is nice for high speed pleasure riding on a friction shifted vintage bike.
On my commuting and other utilitarian bikes, I prefer a half-step plus granny combo, (with the same chainring progression as above) for the added flexibility, with a wider range rear, e.g. 13-23 up to 13-28. All my rides sport a short to medium cage RD to shift/wrap such combos.
I do use the 52T chainring on all my rides on all my bikes, i.e. in the 80+ gear inch range, and typically all the way to 108 (downhill, or at least with the wind, obviously ).