Quote Originally Posted by Catriona View Post
It's my preference, but saying that she's going to have a problem hunting for a gear in almost every gear on a compact is not a true statement - it depends on what she's running on her rear cassette. Especially as we have no idea what the gears are on her current bike - I think she's got a hybrid from the tri thread she posted? So probably 3x8 in the back, so she is probably hunting for gears that work at times, but that's more related to an 8 speed in the back.

If you put an 12-23 rear cassette on your triple, you could get rid of not having an 18 tooth cog, and you probably wouldn't feel like you were hunting for a gear on a triple. A 12-23 would also probably fix a lot of that on a compact for you. Now that may not give you enough gears for hills, and it may not give her enough gears either. Not that I think you should get a compact at all, because you seem happy with your bike - but compact doubles are not as bad as you're making them out to be.

If you're having knee pain, you might want to look into your crank length if you haven't already - I switch my cranks to 165's which is much kinder on my knees.

You are correct I have a cannondale F400 Hybrid. It has a triple in the front (mt bike kind from what i have been told) and a road bike cog but dont know about the #'s. I do have 27 gears. I really rarely go into the small chain ring at this point.

One of the people I road the 38 miles with last sunday suggested either
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...=38454&eid=117

http://www.trekbikes.com/women/wsd_p...es/road/12wsd/

I am not sure I can go that high...at this point.

Tina