Originally Posted by stephr1

Yep, it is (triple chain rings). And I'm pretty much always on the middle ring. Teeth count has been 24/34/42. I bought a new crank to install sometime soon that changes to 28/38/48 (see my msg., #18 , above). I tend not to want to change the front der anymore than necessary (like at all).

So, I already have plans to adopt your suggestion, but in a slightly different manner. Great minds think alike