Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
I have always had a triple (well, if you don't count my 3, 5, and 10 speed bikes from a long time ago). I spend most of my time in the middle ring, using the other rings as described. I live in a hilly area and I shift down to the granny well ahead of a steep climb. I do use the big ring on flats, but there's never much extended flat areas where I ride. Plus, I find the more time I spend in the big ring, the more my knees feel a little "jacked."
I use all of my cogs in the middle gear. I have Ultegra and have never had a problem. I rarely drop my chain. There are some smaller hills that I climb in the easiest or second easiest cog/middle ring combo and there's just no issue. In fact, when I switched from a 25 to 27, I started doing this immediately.
I'm just repeating Deb's advice - figuring she knows what she's talking about. And, with a new unworn chain and cassette, I can definitely hear the cross-chaining when I'm in the middle chainring and one of either the top two or bottom two cogs. It's not rubbing the FD that creates abnormal wear and stretch (and as you say, with most shifters that can be trimmed away anyhow), it's the sideways stresses on the chain and the cog teeth.