Originally Posted by BoSoxYacht

I agree. Most Regular Joes would probably be better served by a compact crankset and a tighter geared cassette, than a 53-39 with a wider gear range cassette.

For many years I used a 52-42 or a 53-39 crankset with a wide range cassette. Now that I went to a 50-34 crankset and a tighter range cassette, I'm much happier. I never seem to be in between gears anymore, and I still have enough real climbing gears when needed.