I bought an almost unused 2007 Specialized Ruby Compact with 50-34 in the front and 12-27 in the rear. My legs are getting a real workout on the hills in the Santa Cruz Mountains (CA) where we have great weather in the winter. Today was one of those magical days with full sun and 60 degrees! On flats and moderate hills this bike just flies.

Anyway, though I am doing fine on most rides, some could use lower gearing. So, I emailed Specialized and they said they did not know anything and that I should contact Shimano. So, I called Shimano and they said that they do not test or recommend any mountain bike cassettes on their road bikes. Yet, many people in the local bike club have mountain bike gearing on their road bikes. I'm just not sure what brand of bikes they have. I really don't need totally low spinning gears, just one or two more.

I looked up 10 speed cassettes and found a company that makes them called IRD. One shop said that you could install these, but that you would need a Shimano mountain bike XT rear derailleur regular. Or, I could change the front smaller ring to have fewer teeth. That sounds interesting. Would the jump be too much? Can you do that without changing the whole crank? The next LBS said they didn't think it would work and I should get a triple.

This is a lot of conflicting info. I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff and then not have the bike perform well or be out the money for the parts. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to do this? Or do I need to just keep what I have?