I have triples on my hybrid and mtn bikes, and Shimano's compact on my road bike. The compact replaced the stock double the bike came with. Love, love, love the compact. The triples? I never use all those gears (as someone said, do we really need that many?) and there is frequent chain suck and I tend to stay in the biggest and middle gears and rarely have use for the small one.

I got the compact after doing a horrid road climb on my double. I am not getting any younger and this ride made me hate the double. After much research and talking with others, I decided to go with the compact rather than a triple for typical reasons - less weight, less parts and gears to have mechanical trouble with and it gives you that 1-3 extra gears not found on the double. I have found that these few extra gears are all I need and I am glad I did not put a triple on.