Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
Not always. Because of the small wheels, often a larger "big crank" is used. My Friday has a "tandem" crankset, which has a 53-tooth big ring. My DH, who is a really strong rider, has a humongous 62-tooth big ring! I think his other two rings are larger than normal too (mine are standard -- 42-30). We both have XT mountain gearing in the back for loaded touring, rather than a road crankset.

Just another datapoint!
Interesting - I thought they had stopped doing that with the advent of the Capreo cassette. Hmmm...food for thought.