Last weekend I returned to a triple crank and moved my cog count into last decade with the increase from 9 to 10 speeds.
1996 Litespeed Natchez frame. Still with Cinelli 66 Campione del Mondo deep drop bars and a shiny 1A stem. Bar-tops are at a nice altitude for puttering around with my wife, hoods are at a comfortable all-day location, and the drops are aerodynamic.
NOS 2010 Campagnolo Centaur Carbon Ultrashift levers. 5 cogs smaller, 3 cogs larger. Some how I unseated the left hood before the picture was taken.
170mm FSA SLK triple with 50-39-30 rings. Much more effective pins and ramps than the big ring FSA shipped with my 2006 FSA Carbon Pro Compact. Nice titanium like grey finish on the rings.
2004-2006 Campagnolo Record Titanium long cage rear derailleur. Just the right mix of retro classy and modern with frame colored hardware.
2004-2006 Campagnolo Record Titanium triple front derailleur. The anti-friction coating on most Chorus and Record front forks is also a good match for titanium frames.
14-23 straight block (yes that's 14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23). Nickel-chrome plated. It's an interesting experiment that's going well. 50x20 feels good hammering up false flats, the chain line is great with 50x19 in the middle of the cassette, and simultaneous thumb button shoves still get to the next gear when slowing down off the big ring (50x22 -> 39x18). I'll also try a 12-23 from my shed that would reduce big-ring use more and 13-26 which provides a little more gearing to offset my girth increase.
Centaur chain. Shiny! Allegedly PTFE coated. The first chain I've used where the pins are peened in place. I'm hoping my experience with C10 chain longevity matches others' reports like it did with C9 chains. KMC Missing Link. Second missing link in my seat pack in case I some how break the chain; although I'm hoping broken chains (two in the last 15 years) are a relic of anachronistic chains predating flush pins.
After wearing out the little spring in the right front shift paddle which is no longer available for first generation ergo levers, wearing out my rear derailleur, having 4860 miles on the current C9 chain (still shy of 1/32" stretch but starting to shift sloppy from the side wear), and being well past time for new cable housings it was time for some rebuilding. Fortunately I knew that day was coming and had been stock piling components for a few years.
I'd been suffering with a 50-34 x 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 since wearing out the big ring on my 50-40-30 triple in 2006, noting that 34x23 was just like the 30x21 low gear I ran with 8 cogs, and buying into the hype about two rings being better than three. They weren't - the front shifting increase was monstrous and drive train a lot noisier running one cog from the end with 50x14 or 34x21 instead of 40x16 or 40x17 in the middle of the cassette.
I originally built the bike in 1996 with 50-40-30 x 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21 which yielded a low gear like 42x28 or 39x26 which I needed in the mountains west of Boulder, CO and 13-19 corncob that I'd enjoy on the plains east without wanting to change cassettes or wheels depending on where I felt like riding that day. That worked great. I moved to nine cogs with a 23 on the big end and installed new free hubs/jockey wheels/pulley bolts/right index cam after Campagnolo discontinued the 13-21 8 speed combination with my beloved 18 cog.