Originally Posted by TheRCF
In an effort to improve my low gearing, I've been looking at going to a compact gearing system. Right now my front gears are 53/39 and the rear is 12/27. I'm looking to change the front to 50/34 which I think will be sufficient. Maybe someday I'd look into making the rear a 10-speed 11/27 if they ever offer it.
I had almost the exact setup on an old 12-speed I picked up at a garage sale. It had a 52/40 crank and a 14/28 cassette. My gear inches went from 40 - 100. I wanted the entire range lower. I spent considerable time researching gearing (thank you Sheldon!) and finally decided on keeping the rear since it was a nice, even spread and changing the front.
I installed (now don't everybody freak out here, it is my name after all) a 34/36 crank. This changed my gear inches spread to 30 - 70 reducing my low end by several mph and letting me use every gear. This set up is called "halfstep." The gearing is sequential and each gear is separated by a uniform measurement (in my case an approximately 8% difference in gear inches).
I don't know if this is anything you're interested in, but I am very satisfied with it and wanted to suggest it.
P.S. Nice spreadsheet, Don. I created one very much like it during my research and development.