52T Compact
 

Has anyone bolted a 52 tooth chainring to their compact crankset. I just saw one on sale and was thinking about trying it out.

The difference between a 50 and 52 is less than 4%.

You can, as long as you dont exceed the capacity of your front derailleur.

I was looking for 52/39 rings in a 110bcd to replace my 50/34 and the cost of the few I found were almost as much as the standard crankset I ended up buying.

Capacity is more an issue with the RD not the FD. You will need to move the FD up to provide proper clearance between the large chain ring and the FD.

I think the advice was that you can't run the 52 with a 34. 18 teeth is beyond the range of the FD. If you want to run a 52, the small ring has to be at least a 36.