Originally Posted by
gsa103
The whole way a compact works is that you adjust the front ring to suit broad terrain, and the rear to handle small changes. Going uphill, 34 ring, get to the top, 50 ring. With a triple, you'd do the same thing, except you have a 39t ring that you need to skip over.
So going back to my original post, I suppose I could have summed it up by saying that I don't think 50T is a good ring size for commuting.
When I'm using a 50-39-30 for commuting, I don't "skip over" the 39T gear. I use it for almost everything, including moderate climbs.
When commuting I pretty much only use the 50T if I'm feeling energetic and really want to get up and go. That is to say, 39T is a good ring size for commuting, though it does cut off a bit at the top end. I only use the 30T gear for really steep hills.
What I gather from the responses that have supported compact gearing is that most people use the big ring all the time and use the small ring as a climbing gear. That makes perfect sense to me for open road situations. For urban/suburban riding, not so much.