My LASCO 52T chainring just arrived this afternoon









While I swapped it in, I could see that the LASCO is much, much lighter than the stock assembly. Now, I was terrified of the idea that I might need a longer chain, but thankfully, the derailleur seemed to be just fine with the slightly less available slack.

I then took the bike out for a test ride and... holy crap, has this thing become fast! Second gear is now where third used to be, but 5th is now just about fast enough for most of the riding I do on this bike! I pushed it as hard as I could on a couple of stretches in 6th and 7th gear; using the latter became viable only of there's a tail wind and/or if the road were slightly sloping downward (and long enough.)

So, I can tell you now that if this were the only bike that I had (and if I added a rack and a pair of fenders,) I'd be perfectly content with it as my only, go-anywhere, do-anything bike! I've even started to question the merit of keeping the Speed D8 around (but I just love that one far too much to let go of it!)

Finally, I must thank everyone who chimed in, helped out, and offered advice and opinions on this and the other thread. Seriously, thanks, buddies!