Quote Originally Posted by Imperfectstorm View Post
I live in New England so I need to do more research. I want to learn how to repair my bike. The LBS are a good resource but $$$
Imperfectstorm, You can go to Sheldon's site to print out the gain ratio table for your current bike. (Note that this gain ration doesn't take the tire's surface condition & the total weight into account. But for a road bike, it's not a problem.)

As others have pointed out, what gear combination you need depends on your physical condition and your surroundings.

Besides the choices of the cassettes, you also need to consider the crank set. When I was considering buying a road bike, I had consider whether I needed a triple or a compact. At first, I was inclined to a triple, since I usually ride in hilly areas. Later I was convinced that a compact would work for me but I needed to change the 11-25 cassettes to 11-28 one. That 28-T is a life-saver in the hills.

Here is the chart I made for "Standard (D 53-39 with 11-23T cassettes) vs Compact (CT 50-34 with 11-28T* cassettes) vs Triple (T 50-39-30 with with 12-27T** cassettes).


* This is not common in the complete-bike market. Usually they put the 11-25T cassettes with a compact.