Quote Originally Posted by Biker Jo View Post
I brought my bike into my LBS today and talked with the mechanic about swapping components to get some lower gearing. I currently have a 34-50 compact crank and 12-26 nine-speed cassette. He said replacing the crank with a triple would be cheaper and easier to do than changing the cassette and rear derailleur. In looking at Sheldon Brown's gear calculator, the setup with the triple would lower my lowest gear from 31.8 inches to 28.1 inches. Is that really a significant enough difference to justify the cost of changing components?
What is he suggesting to put on up front? I changed my cassette from 12-25 to 11-28 and did NOT have to change my rear derailleur. I also have a compact double up front. I guess it depends on how much gearing you want to add. If I went any bigger than 28 on the back, I would think about changing my RD, but as long as I don't cross chain, I've got plenty of room.