Originally Posted by kendall

Think a lot has to do with riding style.
I am normally in the big ring, 52 on three bikes, 53 on one (just sold it last week) and stick to the smallest three cogs for typical riding. With all but one of the bikes the small ring is in the 42 tooth range, and for me it drops the ratio so far that I'm just not comfortable riding it.
With one bike I have 52 and 46 rings, those extra teeth spread the gearing just enough to give me a wider comfort range. I do have larger cogs on the low-range half of the cog on that bike so I have climbing gears if I need them, but they are seldom used.
There are only a few large hills around here, so it works great, possibly wouldn't make sense at all in more hilly areas.

Ken.