Originally Posted by Campag4life

I want to bump this thread for Campy compact users who like myself, never really enjoyed the gearing gap of a 50/34. Some opt for the Campy 50/36 but if you don't climb much steep stuff, a 50/38 is really superb. I have now spent a few miles on it and love it. The good news is...its cheap. The other guys in this thread mention $50 dollar plug and play alternatives to Campy's $100 compact chainrings but there is no reason to pay even that. The 38t Sugino $20 ring in replacement of the 34t Campy ring is transparent. It shift much better then the 34t ring and it is dead solid and quiet. It is also very friendly to cross chaining i.e. running on the smallest cog...negligible chain rattle off the big ring. The good news is I can now run up to a little over 20 mph in the small ring and therefore I have much more overlap with the big ring and hence much less shifting.
Some may ask, why not just buy a regular racing crank with a 53/39. Well one tooth matters in the small ring but mostly because I absolutely have no need for a 53. I normally don't descend faster then 35 mph and I never spin out in 50/12 and the smaller big ring is much more usable at again the speeds I ride, 17-25 mph most of the time.
A twelve tooth gap is great between small and big ring such that I don't have to shift four cogs to breach this gap any more.
So if you bought a compact for the reason that I did...don't like a 53t big ring however don't need a 34t for climbing, then for 20 bux, you have this nifty option.
Ride safe.