Originally Posted by ShannonM

1. Terrain is coastal flats and inland ridges.
2. 1985 League Fuji... steel sport-touring bike, rack, fenders, set up for commuting.
3. There's hills around here, and the flats are right on the water and therefore always windy. My commute to work is a couple of miles on the flat, followed by a ~1/2 mile hill at 6-8%. Recreational rides are roughly the same, just longer and more of it.
4. Current gearing is half-step + granny, 45/42/30 x 14-16-18-20-23-26. My first half-step setup, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It just makes so much sense... 14-15% jumps in the back, with 7-8% fine-tuning shifts whenever I want them. (And on the windy flats along the shore, I want them a lot.) And a shift pattern that requires no effort to remember, albeit at the expense of the occasional double shift.
5. If I'd change anything, it'd be adding one higher gear. 45x14 is a little bit low for long descents where you want to pedal... I spin out earlier than I'm used to. Adding a 13t 7th cog, (or even better a 12, if such a thing exists for Suntour freewheels,) would be nice. I do have a few 13-26 7 speed Sachs ARIS freewheels I could try, but I worry that going from a 16-18-20 midrange to a 15-17-19 would be a bummer.

--Shannon