Compact 34/50 vs. 36/50
 

...I have an FSA compact with a 34/50..and have been thinking about moving up to a 36 on the small ring. I very rarely drop into the lowest on the 34, and honestly don't use the small ring that much and was thinking I'd have a better 'range' of gears for my riding style by moving to the 36.

Any thoughts or input..or experience? I know FSA sells a 36 for about $45 bucks.

Thanks in advance.
Tom

A 36 won't increase your "range" at all. It will decrease it slightly. What it WILL do for you is create more overlap in the middle range so that you don't have to shift chainrings as often. I wouldn't go out and buy it just for that, but if your 34 needs replacing and you really don't need your lowest gear, then I'd do it.

I would go ahead and try it. I have had both 34 and 36, and while the 34/50 offered a lower end, the jump between 34 and 50 was so large that I would often find myself trying hard to avoid the upshift of 3-4 cogs in the back that was required to get the gear I wanted. Spent a lot of time cross-chained in 50-23.