"one of the reasons people say they prefer the double over triple is that it shifts so much better."
Not true for me. On a typical triple, it's fairly easy to stay in the middle ring most of the time. Cross-chaining? It's not an issue.
On the other hand, switching from the big ring to the little ring, or the reverse, on a compact, means moving up and down about four cogs in the back to reach the next nearest gear. On the triple, its about three jumps.
So, for me, on a triple, it's less changes of chainrings, no cross chaining, and less jumping around on the back.
Each kind of bike has it's purpose, though, so in the end, none of this matters.
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