I'm 5'8" - my old setup had a long gear of 63/11, and I turned that through 185 mm cranks. I had to be careful in sharp turns not to snag the pavement, but I loved that setup. My small ring was only a 52 or 54 (can't remember which), so the bike was definitely setup up for cruising, not climbing. OTOH, standing out of the saddle on those cranks was quite comfortable.

Watching motorists' reactions as I casually pedaled downhill at 40+ mph was always a stitch.

My current setup is Dura-Ace, long gear is a more modest 56/11, cranks are the longest that Dura-Ace offers (don't have the bike here to check, and I don't remember, but, I know they aren't 185 mm).

Which setup do I prefer - it's hard to say. I enjoyed both bikes. The new one is definitely easier to ride over long distances - it's much lighter (CF) road bike than the previous AL Cyclocross with discs, so I don't know if the comfort is the result of a lighter bike, shorter cranks, mental newness factor, or what.

When the Cyclocross was new, I almost took it back because the gearing was just not to my liking - comparatively short long gear until I had my LBS do some major re-gearing.

Can't do a comparison, because bike #1 was destroyed in a crash.

. . . but I enjoyed bike #1, enjoying Bike #2 . . . and this topic is always of interest to me.

Caruso