Originally Posted by
BGAndrea
Sounds good...but could you please explain what this does? Also, what does compact mean in relation to components?
It typically references the size of the front chainrings. A compact road crankset will have 50 & 34 teeth chainrings whereas a traditional road crankset will have 53 & 39 teeth chainrings. The compact crankset will effectively give you lower gearing. Going to a larger rear cassette will compound this further. Going to a triple front crankset gives you much lower gearing still by offering you a 30 tooth chainring up front, but converting to a triple is the most costly route since you would have to get a new shifter, crankset, and front derailleur.
This is a decent resource for starters:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html