Originally Posted by
Racing Dan
Didnt like my 50/34 + 11-32 either. Not enough low gears from the big ring and not enough high gears from the small ring. > constantly shifting up and down on the rings (+ cassette) to get a half way decent chain line.
I notice that a lot of riders just cross chain from the big ring to the bigger cogs on the cassette. Not sure they even notice or care. From a gearing perspective a triple is hard to beat, but it has fallen out of fashion long ago. Decent stock bikes with triples are few and far between.
For non-racing cyclists, a compact would make more sense with a 14-32 (or 14-28) cassette. Enabling a lot less cross chaining from the big ring on flats.
However, such cassettes are a lot less widely available in shops and usually cost about double the price of "ordinary" (11, or 12 T starting ones).