Originally Posted by
jonathanb715
I went from a triple to a compact double. The bike shop is correct - the overall gearing range with a wide range cassette for the compact is similar to a triple with a 12-27.
What I miss is being able to stick it in the middle chain ring and use that for most rides I did. I only shifted in the front for long and/or steep climbs and long descents. With a compact, the big chain ring will do some of that for you, but somewhere around 15 - 18mph (depending on your cadence and the gearing), you will find yourself needing to shift up front a lot. Whether that's a big deal seems to be a matter of preference - I was annoyed with it at first, but got used to it. To get around that, lots of people with compacts will cross chain a lot. I'd rather shift, personally.
JB
I don't understand the lots more front shifting on doubles, you have low range for uphill and flats (with wind), high range for flats (no wind) and downhill, with a double instead of losing 2 gears on each end, you lose only one. If you really need to do a lot of shifting, then maybe you have the wrong cassette on there. Which I think is a large part of the problem in general. Cassettes are still marketed as if we had 5 speed freewheels where you choose which 5 cogs you want and need to have knowledge of which cogs are best, this is why today we still refer to gear inches as if that explains it all. I think it would be better to have different cassettes based on the crank size and riding style, to give you a reasonable gear range for different uses.