Trek is obviously listening since this year's model doesn't have a 52/11 for a high. A 50/11 is reasonable for touring and for daily riding. But I'm not sure they even think about low gears. Low gears are for mountain bikes. Road bikes don't need low gears...or so their thinking goes. I think that touring bikes at Trek are where they put the new guy. "Hey, you ride a bike. Go design the touring bike. Use the same old tired frame as we've used for the past 15 years because that's what we want to sell. Put some parts on it. Those crabby touring types have complained about the gearing for years. Do something to shut them up! May be if you do something right, kid, we'll move you over to real road bikes next year. Now go away!"

The guy is a racer dude and thinks, "I'll just put a compact on it with a granny gear. Hey Shimano rep, what you got? No, I don't need that low of gearing. Nobody needs anything lower than a 27" gear. That's just silly." No thought goes into the process and obviously the parts designer's only touring experience is in riding some big state ride where all you do is go fast, party and repeat. If they had really ever ridden a loaded touring bike for even a week end, they'd see the problems with the bike straight off.