Drivetrain upgrade, Ritchey?
 

I am interested in upgrading my drivetrain on my 05 Specialized Allez sport. I would like to get a compact crank and upgrade the derailers from 105 to ultegra. I was looking at the Ritchey WCS compact team crank and it looks to be in my budget and also light and looks pretty cool. Any one have advice on a specific front derailer that would work best with this crank, since it is a compact I have heard of chain rubbing issues due to the cage being too small on the derailer? Also what bottom bracket would you all recommend to round out the package?
Thanks for the helpful info.
Cheers

I think the ritchey crank is pretty cool...aebike has it for $125.99, pretty good price! http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&SKU=CR3254
it looks like they currently don't have 170 length, but it comes and goes. but here is a little trick that some have done...performance will price match and with a 10% discount code you can knock another 12.59 off! try this code: 6001400

I've got a 50/34 cranks and I run a standard chorus front der...works fine. I believe the ritchey requires a octalink bb...which means shimano.

I have the Ritchey WCS compact and it is great. I am using an Ultegra 6500 BB with it but the newer 5500 octalink 105 BB would be fine too. I am not sure I would even bother to upgrade the derailleurs unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket. Upgrading the shifters will be nore noticable (are they 105 or Ultegra?) so save up for that. Upgrading the FD is about the last thing I would do (yes I have an Ultegra FD but I got it with the build kit...105 would have been fine).

FWIW I got Performance to match the AEBike $125.99 price.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeej440/s.../got_crank.jpg

Sweet, thanks for the info. Actually my shifters are Tiagra, and they are fairly non-responsive. Also the front derailer is Tiagra. So instead of upgrading the front derailer to a 105 I thought it might be better to just go to an ultegra, it's only like 12 bucks more or something in price. Thanks again for the cool discount code, that is awsome!
Cheers

Again upgrading the derailleurs without upgrading the shifters will pretty much be a waste. You will see a much bigger improvement in the shifting by upgrading the shifters.