Originally Posted by
Frankfast
The next question involves riding hills, not mountains. Is it feasible then to change the cassette from 11/23 to 12/29 and leave the standard crank 53/39 or change the crank to compact 50/34 or both.
29t rear cog? You more than likely will need at minimum a medium or even better, a long cage rear derailleur. I doubt very much that a short cage road derailleur will handle a 29t rear cog. I have even had issues with the jockey pulley rubbing on my 28t rear cog using a medium cage 105 Shimano rear derailleur.
Edit: after googling a bit, it appears that in reality, short cage=double crankset and long cage=triple cranksets. So you might get lucky with a 29t rear even with the short cage. Might have to extend the b screw out all the way.