mountaindave 

There’s a half step thread around there somewhere - just too lazy to find it.

After many hours spent pouring over gain ratio charts (I’m obsessive and have a spreadsheet) I have found the ultimate road combo to be 50/45/26 x 14-32 (14-17-21-26-32 is a hard freewheel to find, but they’re out there). It gives nearly perfectly equivalent gain ratios over the entire range. In the low granny you’ll walk up a hill faster than you’ll ride. I get a 22”-92” spread with only one gear overlapping in the granny (not that I’d ever cross chain, but low-low is a unique gear).