dfroelich wrote:
gary p wrote:
... You can get essentially the same total gearing range with a 53/39 and an 11-32 cassette...This is still true though. You'd have smaller jumps with the standard race crank, but the bigger crank gives you the option of quickly flipping out the cassette to something like a 11-28 for tiny jumps and allows you to hang out in the big ring and middle of the cassette (straight chainline) on a flatter course.
Both the OPs proposal of a 53/42 chainset and gary p's 53/39 suggestion involve a 53 tooth large chainring so no difference in bigger gears.
An 11-28 could be used with either chainset and would give the same smaller increments at the back. The main difference would be that with the 53/42, your smallest gear becomes 42/28 and might not be small enough for some. The 53/39 (which would typically be considered a standard) doesn't appear to have any major drawbacks.
...Of course I might be misunderstanding the point again!