Quote Originally Posted by Catrin View Post
If this is correct, then how would smaller, or larger numbers on the crankset affect my overall gear choice?
Your choice of the biggest ring will mostly determine your top speed.

Top speed likely can't be tuned via the cassette in back. The smallest/fastest cog is 11 teeth. Most cassette options will have either an 11 or 12 tooth small cog. This leaves no option for further tuning via the cassette. Thus the crankset's big ring is the only way to choose your top speed.

Mountain bikes will have a big ring of 42 or 44. Touring bikes will be a bit faster with 46 or 48. Road bikes are faster yet with 50 to 52. Hard core racers might have 53 or 54 toothed rings.

Bigger rings have a downside of reduced ground clearance. Mountain bikes started out using touring cranks and had 48x12 as their top speed gear ratio. Around 1994, the industry changed to compact gearing with a top ratio of 44x11. Note that this is the exact same effective gearing!

Your choice of the smallest ring will affect your hill climbing. Here you have lots of options of chainring and cassette combinations.

If you choose a triple crankset, you might be able to tune your gearing such that you're in the middle ring most of the time. This simplifies your gear shifting decisions.

Double cranksets with huge chainring jumps won't shift well. If you rarely need to shift (say if you ride in a flat area with one big climb), this may be a worthwhile tradeoff. If you have to constantly shift, then a triple might be a better choice.