Thanks for the help.

Deb- What is it that makes you want to avoid the long cage?

Could I go with a 9-speed on the new bike and still be able to switch the wheels/cassettes back and forth with the other bike (10 spd).

Veronica- thanks for the advice about the gear ratio chart- my ex-BF (we're still pretty good friends) set up an excel spreadsheet with the numbers- I've spent a fair amount of time staring at it. Where I live is quite hilly (and there's a pretty significant one on my way home so many of my rides end with a big hill). I also occassionally will go over some of the gaps in the area (1500+ feet) on longer training rides. That said I'm comfortable on hills and I think all the up and down means that I'm a little better at climbing than I otherwise would be.

In all honesty, the gearing with my current triple (52/42/30 with a 12-25 cassette) probably suits me perfectly. It gives me a relatively low gear for climbing and it's only rarely that I'm pushing the top gears (Like you Veronica, I'm not a maniac on downhills- it's only on that long gradual descent that it gets tempting to see how fast I can go). But I find that the triple often gets slightly out of alignment and I'm having to really jam the shifter to get the derailler where I want it (someday I'll learn how to adjust these things myself, but for the moment I'm dependent on the LBS or the ex-BF- who isn't around as much as he used to be). My tribike has a compact and it's always been so much easier to shift. After studying the numbers I concluded that a 50/34 with a 12-27 would get me almost as high and almost as low and that I should be able to live with that. But it's a good point- maybe I should just stick with a triple- it would certainly solve the hillclimb problem.

So here's another question- anyone have any thoughts on whether an ultegra triple front derailler would shift more smoothly than my current 105 triple front derailler? (or is the higher price simply because it weighs less?)