right! i cudn't have writ it better.
butbubtut, i examined (loosely put) the problem or at least part of it
on a long straight yesterday into the wind and alone on the wide
mulsanne thus avoiding the SEE ROCK CITY signs and dirt bikers with
friction shifters.
and what i came up with bedies double vision wuza the:

SHADOW GEAR!!
the(ah expletive deleted i furgot to count it's teeth)3 cog down from
the 34-32-shadow gear/28?-24? is a skip running with the small CR
going to the 32 and to the 24 from the 32 unless the cable is turned
pretty tightly.
the 3 cog from the bottom does something likewise but not as often
prefering to thrum instead.
eye guess(whew that's along ways aback there)the linear fucntion is
performed by the large CR and if needing accuracy so as to avoid
physical damage to the pudendal area, scrotum, and ACL, the big CR is
the way togo.
the two 3 cogs on this non-linear setup takes significant effort(s) to
get into even in the spread the wear riding mode but taking the
hairpin flatout mode requires the extra cablescrew twist and the big
CR.
this is the reason or one of the reasons for index shifting on the new
bike?