my take on all this is that it all comes down to how heavy your bike is going to be. I guess all my life I have always been a "lower down on the power scale" rider, but for the load weights I have used over the years, I still find a triple, and frankly a smaller triple for heavier loads, to still be the most versatile.

When I say "versatile", I specifically mean that with good chain line, which is generally better for chain life, the mid ring is used for most general riding, small ring for climbing on steeper hills with lots of options for low low gearing using the larger half ish of the cassette, and the big ring using the smaller halfish of the cassette works great for tailwinds, slight or not so slight downhills.

I realize that much wider cassettes nowadays very much make a difference, but I still wonder about chain line and the jumps between the front rings at times.

again, I really do see this depending on how much weight your bike+load is, and in both nun and staeph's cases, the number is rather light, so it very clearly works for your setups.

hey nun, did you ever shop around more with a wider tire light cf bike or has that project been put off?