Originally Posted by
stedalus
33T is the smallest that will fit on a compact, and they're a little hard to come by.
They won't work on all cranks. Sometimes the crank arms stick out a bit too far and the chain sideplates hit them. I'm not willing to file down crank arms, not for a bike I'll be riding up hills steep enough to need a 33t ring.
IRD makes 10sp {11,12}-{28,30,32,34} clusters. If you go past a 50/34 with a 12-25 you will be exceeding Shimano's chain wrap spec. 50/34 and 12-27 almost always works, but much more than that won't work with a standard road derailleur. But a road triple or short-cage MTB derailleur will do fine. Just don't get one that is "rapid rise" as it will shift backwards from normal.