I have been on a compact double for several months now. So far the ratios fit my riding style much better than my old ultegra triple. I took out my old bike last week and re-confirmed my decision to switch. I don't live in the mountains but I do climb some pretty good hills with my compact double and have not wanted any lower gear.

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South of San Fran
North of Santa Cruz

I just bought a new bike and had my heart set on a compact setup. I was coming from a standard triple with a 11-23 cassette. I do a lot of hill work, so I thought I should try to match the range I use on my triple. My TCR came with a 53/39 and a 12-25 and I was convinced I was going to swap it out for a 50/34 with a 11-23. My friends at my LBS lovingly talked me out of it with positive encouragement such as “compacts are for pussies”… am I glad they did! The compact would have had me shifting chainrings too often. I never touched anything smaller than the 30-19 on the triple anyway, so I just don’t need anything smaller than a 39-25. The 39-25 is actually slightly smaller than my old 30-19! My chainline, efficiency, and shifting on my double is much better than my triple.

One other note – I was thanking one of my wonderful friends above for convincing me, and he said that another benefit of the standard double over the compact is added stiffness when on the big chain ring, due to the 130mm BCD vs. 94mm BCD of a compact crank… At least, that was his theory.

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..:: M t T a m B i k e s ::..

Gotta have triples out here. It's nothing but twisty, windy hills with short strips of road that are only straight & level by comparison with the rest of the jagged terrain.

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Golf with an attitude:
http://ragingolf.com

I went from triple to double. Best choice ever. It seemed to reduce average amounts of tune-ups at the shop and feels better. I never really got into the small sproket on climbs, so when I upgraded all of my components, I made the decision to switch.

I switched from Triple to Double on the road bike, found it unnessessary for 3 chaninrings this area of the country. Still have triple on the mtn. bike though, comes in handy.

One problem with a triple on a road bike is, you tend to get lazy. Rather than doing a little extra work in the middle ring, people tend to shift to the small chainring and spin. Doesn't help much in the muscle developement. I like double, so even if the hill is a little steep, I have no choice but to push a little harder rather than jamming out and putting it in the small chainring on a triple.

I used to subscribe to that theory. And agree it helps to climb standing sometimes, and just muscle up the hills. Great for the rollers with the pack, when speeds are higher. I often say in the middle ring on short hills and just stand up.

But, found on long steep climbs, when most are climbing at 6-8 mph, I can get to the top easier by using a lower gear and staying seated. With my new triple bike, I started beating guys that used to outclimb me before...which to me is the only thing that counts.

I read that Team Navigator used triples on the big climb stage of the Tour de Georgia last month. When the grade goes to 20%, even pro's need low gears. Lance went with a 39/27, but he's a pretty strong guy....certainly his gear isn't right for me.