Originally Posted by Goonster
To be fair, Jobst Brandt tours in the Alps every year with 180mm cranks and a 44/21 low gear. Admittedly, he's an extreme case, and I'm sure he turns those pedals over at much less than 80 rpm. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
Have you ever climbed with Jobst? He's all over his bike, trying to keep the pedals moving. It looks very strange, as if he's going to stop dead. Different strokes is right.
Oh yeah, about compact cranks. A 50/34's lowest gear is 13% higher than a standard triple's, 13% lower than a standard double, and the high is 6% lower than a standard double/triple.
I switched to a 50/34 last year and won't be switching back.