Not wading through the thread, apologies, but my regular commuter is 48/34 chainrings and a 11-36 cass and I like it a lot, rarely have issues, nothing to complain about. If anything, I might consider going to a 46/30 front with the same 11-36 rear, but for most of my current commute route, current setup works just fine. Avg speed is 14 - 16mph.