because 52 or 53/42 was THE gearing until someone showed up and I believe won the TDF on a 39 instead of the 42. What happened next? umm...everyone switched. some people still run 42. I don't. I run 39. With all that said another example would be that Compact was fringe until Hamilton rode it at the TDF one year. I see them all over the place now.

Honestly, I think a 42 tooth is obselete. You apparently have some monster cassette on that bike that's almost a touring type cassette. I'm going compact in the near future just for mountain climbs.

For those people that think you should only shift in the small ring in the front for climbs, CROSSOVER comes to mind. I'm in my 39 tooth until I get in a gearing that makes me have to go into the big ring. My cadence is in the 90s so I warm up in the 39 tooth. That big/big and little/little combo is still a NO NO even though we can trim the bike out. Talk about wear on the cassette, chainrings and chain and not to mention the possibility of throwing the chain in the front on a climb if you decide to go from 53/25 down to 39/25.

BTW, I still have a touring bike with 1/2 step gearing but it's a real pain in the rear but you do get a unique gear with every shift. No overlap!