Originally Posted by
Retro Grouch
You're right, with the same cassette it works out to be about one rear gear. That's fine when you're in the middle. If you're battling a head wind, however, that can put you into the situation where frequent front shifts are necessary.
I'm not a particularly strong rider so switching to a 50/34 compact for me traded a couple of fast gears that I never used for a couple of hill climb gears that I really needed. That's the benefit that I was expecting. The unexpected bonus for me was that it allowed me to do all of my flat road riding in the big chainring. Overall I think that switching my road bike to a compact was the best equipment change that I've ever made.
Er, that's fine, except it doesn't address the point you made in the first place, which is that you like your typical gear to be in the middle of the rear cassette. On a 12-25 cassette, the 16 and 17 sprockets are the middle two sprockets. What you now seem to be saying is that you wanted lower gearing, which is of course what a compact is for.