I tend to appreciate high gearing - I literally never get below 4th with the current setup, so 52 would probably work well for me; it's not that big a jump from 48. I don't have ghost shifting problems, and the derailleur has been reasonably good at staying tuned, though it does need a tweak from time to time. I'm not really a fan of indexed shifting, so if I were to change it, I'd most likely go to friction shifting. I'll certainly take a look at the bushings though; I don't think I'm suffering slop, but if I am, that would definitely explain the issue. I also don't think I'm having problems with the cranks, but I could be. I seldom stand and mash on this bike (it just doesn't feel right with the long stem), but thinking about it, the chain throws could be correlated with the times when I do. I'm also going to check the derailleur hanger. Thanks for the input!