I have a compact double on my road bike and I'm very happy with it. This is all I've ever known on a road bike though. Currently my terrain varies from flat, to rolling hills, to hills with a 8-12% grade over a couple miles. There occasionally has been times on those long steep hills where I wanted to shift down more and couldn't. However, I was still able to make it up the hills. Those instances have been rare though, and the more I do hills (it's fairly recent that I began incorporating them), the less often that happens of course. Anyways, good luck on making your decision!

-Jessica