Originally Posted by droobieinop

First, I realize that this is not the place for all this discussion, however I have recently purchased both a 52T FSA 110 bcd chainring, Dura Ace 7800 chain and an Ultegra 6700 11-23 cassette.

I live in northeast Florida and things here are basicly flat, I found the compact 50/34 was way too low for me when I tried micro adjusting my front and dropped onto the 34 by accident. To solve that issue I swaped out the 34 for a 40, which got me up Sugarloaf in Clermont with my 12-23. Now I'm getting strong enough to need more gear, but instead of investing in a crankset I've found a 52T ring (couldn't find a 53). I had a 12-21 Dura Ace straight block that I thought might help my future racing. After a really fast ride this week, where I found myself in my 52/12-13-14 most of the time, I decided to get the 11-23 instead. I'll just have to work around the missing gears.

For more on gearing and what gears you have, how fast you will go etc, visit http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/ and all will become clear.

My future shopping list has a new saddle, Ultegra SPD SL pedals and a set of American Classic Sprint 350's.