Woman. Me = road bike 50/34 with 12/25 on back - 700 wheels.
tri bike 53/39 with 12/27 on back - 650 wheels. Husband said because of the wheel size, both setups wind up being about the same for gearing. He said he would never put a compact setup on a 650 wheel bike.
Used the tri bike with the above setup for triple t, no problems. It doesn't mean I was fast, but I didn't feel like I needed lower gears... the couple of hills that were truly steep and I was in my 39-27 standing, were short - so I didn't mind and probably would have stomped up them anyway.

Used road bike climbing Mt. Lemmon in Tucson this year and loved it.

I ride a 50/34 with a 12-27 for my road bike and a 50/34 with a 12-25 for my tri bike. Love the switch to compact cranks.

I live and ride in the catskill mountains. The 12-27 is very helpful. Our hills are anywhere from 6% and 5 miles long, to 15% and 1 mile long. I used this bike for the Whiteface race 2 weeks ago. (8 miles @8%)

Both of my friends ride them too...so that makes 3 more womens with compact.

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Jeanne Roth
Team Timex 2007/2008
http://jeannejeannie.blogspot.com/

I'm a guy and use compacts with a 12-27 in the rear. I prefer the option for climbing since I participate in some hilly IMs like silverman. Before I had the regular 53 with 11-23 and though I could probably get more top speed, I couldn't hold it so I figure it wasn't worth it...I can still generate low to mid 20s on compacts and 12-27 so I'm fine with the current setup which will also give me some better climbing options.

Judging from the responses on this thread, compact cranks gotta be the most over-hyped and misunderstood components around.

First question to ask yourself: Am I running out of little gears going uphill such that my cadence drops to the point where I can no longer produce good power?

If NO, keep what you got... There is no good reason to get a compact to help you "spin better" if you can already spin in the gears you have. Just shift to you smallest gear more often and use it when you are supposed to. It would be thought this could go unsaid, but I am amazed by the number of people I pass struggling up climbs and about to fall over and they haven't even shifted to their lowest gear. What are they saving it for, marriage or something??

If YES, then the next questions are: Will a cassette with a bigger big cog (such as a 25 or 27) fix this? Can I accept the slightly bigger "gaps" between gears at the low end? If YES, then just get a cassette with a bigger range like a 12-25 (Shimano) or 11-26 (SRAM) this is a lot cheaper option and you don't have to mess around with possible front derailleur replacement and absolutely necessary yet finicky adjustment. (Since the tooth difference is bigger, it is by nature harder to get and keep right)

If a 39x27 or 39x25 is not low enough to climb what you need to climb, then you are a candidate for a compact crank. But you still have to decide how much lower your lowest gear needs to be and what kind of gaps between gears you can accept.

For a given number of gears, (10 speed, say) a compact crank will not make you gears closer together. The % difference between gears is totally based on the cassette. If you have 12-23 cassette, the % difference in gears will be less than the difference in an 11 - 26 cassette. If a 36 (or 34) x 23 is low enough for you to climb in, then you can get closer together gears. If you put on a compact 50/34 with a 11-26, then your highest and lowest gears are farther apart than with a 53/39 with the same cassette. That's because theres a 16 tooth difference vs. a 14 tooth difference with a standard crank.

You're not looking at a huge difference in gear inches on the bottom end:

34 x
23 = 39
25 = 36
26 = 34
27 = 33

39 x
23 = 45
25 = 41
26 = 39
27 = 38

So you're spending a several hundred bucks to pick up about 5 gear inches. I don't see that it's worth it and I certainly wouldn't call it an "upgrade". If it came on a new bike I'd take it, but I don't see and really reason to change other than to join the craze and be one with the herd.

this will be true for pretty much any non pro rider: let's take something like

7% incline
165lb rider
39x23
power needed to pedal up the hill at 80rpm = 291W

7% incline
165lb rider
39x27
power needed to pedal up the hill at 80rpm = 240W

7% incline
165lb rider
34x27
power needed to pedal up the hill at 80rpm = 200W

do you really think that many recreational athletes are going to be capable to sustain 300W for a significant amount of time without shooting their legs for the run and/or the rest of the race? If things get steeper it'll be even worse

8.5% incline
39x23 346W
39x27 286W
34x27 240W

and yeah, you can run a 39x27 of course, but in my opinion the 40-50W a compact will let you save at the same rpm are not exactly peanuts, let alone compared to the people who run the 'studly' 11x23 cassettes... I mean, not even tour riders run 11x23 in the mountains, what makes these AG think that they should?

I have used a compact for the past year (female here) because I was training in a very hilly area, and was just getting back into the game with triathlon. I just switched to a 53/39 since i am much stronger now and can push a bigger gear. I am also in a flatter area so i have to use some big gears to replace hills. I think a compact is a great options for smaller women, as many people (men included) are over-geared.

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"What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass for six hours a day. What are YOU on?" - Lance Armstrong

All this info has been helpful-- I found out one of the very muscular strong female riders in my club is on CC's and I thought she was NOT! Interesting. I need to pay more attention to that stuff.

My LBS has a CC I can borrow and see how I like it. I would not mess with any changes til after Vineman.

Yes I need to climb more hills anyway but health issues and slow recovery impact my training.

I love the academic side of these discussions. Very interesting! I'm gonna re-read some stuff I have on the gearing (charts etc) to understand it all more.

Thx again
C
(Tribato, I believe my first reply to you via PM got lost in outer space while I was typing it (!?) so that is why the second one sounded so weird)

LOL. TC, that's why I'm reading this thread.. trying to figure out what the hell a compact crank is. I thought maybe the little arm to the pedal (crank?) was shorter ;)

You do not need a compact crank!

But essentially, they are smaller front chain rings. Almost like having a triple up front, but w/o the biggest chain ring. I think there is an actual delineation point (smaller than a 52 up front or something like that).

Alrighty then, I will take your word for it :)

Call me or email if you want to ride 2h on Th? Nothing crazy, flat spin.