Originally Posted by
Savagewolf
On the triple, I find I am often in the middle ring but hit up the big ring for descents and good straightaways and only hit the small ring if I am going up a tough hill. On the compact, I find I shift a lot between the big ring and the little ring in most situations. I also seem to want to cross chain more with it.
Same here, I switched from a triple to a compact earlier this year and with the triple I pretty much left it on the middle chainring on flatter roads. With the compact my bike makes pretty noticeable cross chaining noises below 17mph on the big ring. I don't think it's good to ride around on the 34-13 or 34-11 with so little derailleur tension on the chain so I'm shifting up to the big chainring around 17mph. On flattish roads that is not an ideal switchover point for a road bike if you're cruising in the 18-20mph range. Throw in a gusty headwind or a false flat and it gets a little more annoying. But if you don't think cross-chaining is detrimental a compact works just fine.