“I’ve climbed from snow to sea on this combo”
How did you climb from snow to sea? 
Sorry, but I think something is wrong with your new chainring - it appears to be round rather than oval. You may want to have someone take a look at that. 
I could not agree more. I use 50x40 for my road and tri bike and find it to be just right. With the road bike I will use a 12-26 9-speed for climbing, and on the tri bike I go with a 12-25 10-speed for training and racing. When I was bike racing, I remember needing 53x12 often enough, but for lots of hills or solo riding it is nearly useless. I like the quick shift between the 50 and the 40. I’ve raced 48x38 as well, but went to the other combo when I tried Q-rings.
Chad
I’ve been contemplating something similar for my road bike. I’ve haven’t done anything yet for exactly the same reason as you … Shimano didn’t offer the 36, and I was hesitant to go with a non-Shimano crank-chainrings.
A quick question: What cage length rear der are you using? Can’t tell from the photo. Really nice looking bike by the way.
When I got my semi-compact FSA SRM Pro, I swapped out the 34t for a 38t inner chain ring and the wife is liking the same chain ring combination on her non-compact FSA cranks as well. While we do not have ‘mountains’ in this part of Texas, we were out west not too long ago and she was pretty vocal about wanting/needing more gear than a 39x27 afforded her on the climbs in the Davis Mountains. Now that she has logged a few miles, I will probably be getting her the full-on compact cranks so that I can put on a 36tor 34t chainring for her the next time we head to the mountains.
I have one TT bike and two of my road bikes set up with the 50-34. I can DO some climbing!!!
I have the TT and one of the road bikes setup with standard 180mm RC’s and the 50-34. Its a great setup!! The other bike has compact cranks with the 50-34.
It’s good to see your post. It seems that too many people just focus on whether to buy compact or standard cranks/chainrings before they actually consider what kind of riding they do and what kind of gearing combinations they can get by using different cassettes with what they already have. I’ve spent hours on Sheldon Brown’s gear calculator and there certainly are many ways to get the same result.
I do a heck of a lot of climbing here in Oregon and I’ve also gravitated to a 12-27 w/ my 53-39. It is absolutely the perfect “do everything” combo for me. I can climb damn near anything one day and go race a Crit the next day and I rarely feel like I need any more gears on either end.
However, regardless of everything I said above, I still have an ongoing debate with myself that says: a 50-36 compact crank paired with an 11-25 (or similar) would give me the same gear range, weigh a bit less and lets be honest - would be more visually appealling (that 27 tooth cog is just huge). I just haven’t been able to make myself spend the money when the change would gain nothng for my riding.
Eureka!
I had 50x34 on my “compact” (which is actually an old 110/74 MTB triple with no granny - hey my road bike 21 years old and it’s hard to justify brand new stuff for her) but I didn’t like it for the flat-to-rolling hills that I ride most of the time. So I normally run 50x38 and 13-21 and use 13-26 for hilly stuff and put on the 34T ring only for really steep stuff. I don’t race it so 50/13 is big enough for me.
But this is Slowtwitch after all, so it’s worth pointing out that my tri bike will always be 53/39-12/25.
I realize that statement was somewhat tongue in cheek, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. If you don’t need a 53x12 on a road bike, why would you need it on a tri bike when you are always riding solo? Not to mention if you ride steep then you need even lower gears to spin. You have to be flying to spin a 53x12 and at that sort of wind resisitance it is a complete waste of energy to be pedaling. You are better off to tuck and rest. “Making up time” on the downhills is a totally inefficient use of your available energy. That is more a comment for the masses, who I have observed hammering the downhills, then for you, since I don’t know how you ride.
I have raced 48x38 to good effect and really like the 10-tooth jump back and forth. I’ve even done experiments where I only used the 42-tooth and gone just as fast in a bike/run brick. I’m a little faster than that now, but I’m still thinking about trading out the 12 for an 18 in the middle of the cog or just adding a 27 on the end when paired with 50x40. Big gear inches are just a waste.
Chad
Wow… that is some real wussy gearing. You ride that in public?
Pfft. I did it in half a day, naked, with one bottle of water and a Snickers bar.
Is that printed on the back of a Netball Skirt…?
The more I think about this post… the less your switch makes sense.
I was just taking the piss before… but now I’m confused.
The only thing you’ve done is limit your top end slightly… seems like a waste of money unless you needed a new chainring anyways.