Originally Posted by
tigrrrtamer
As a matter of fact, if you changed from a triple, with a small chainring of 34 and a rear sprocket of 28, to a compact double, with a small chainring of 36 and a rear sprocket of 32,
Hmm. My large chainring is a 52 and my smallest rear cog is 11 ... on both bent and upright.
My granny is 26 on the df though still 30 on the bent with a rear cog of 32. That granny gets used around here. I like to spin at a cadence of 90 up a hill and I have a couple of regularly tackled hills that require that gearing. So not only does your compact not have the range I need, it has that huge hole between the rings requiring a multi gear change on the rear when you change on the front - that would annoy me intensely.
One of the nice things about bents is the fact that the long chainline reduces the effects of cross chaining so, provided your front dr allows it, you can work the full rear cassette from whatever chainring you're on.
Compact gearing - I've never been able to understand why people choose such a compromise but then again, people tend not to understand why I have a 26 tooth front granny mated to my 32 tooth rear.
Richard