I need lower gears 4 hills on my road bike

[Crankin]

I feel the same about my compacts, but when I recently started using the smaller ring of the compact more, I found more of the sweet spot. And my knees are happier.

[eofelis]

I have really low gears on both my road bikes (11-34, and 11-36), and it's great for climbing (we have a few hills here in Colorado) but they are both triple chainring bikes. You may be able to put a bigger cassette on the back of your compact crank bike, but it might depend on what your components are.

If you want a bike to ride the southern tier with how about something like this? It would be good for carrying small panniers with your clothes, etc. It has a triple in front and 11-32 in the back. For $600 is a good deal.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/tourist.htm

[Wasp]

I had to go to three different LBS.The first two shops tried talking me out of it and or telling me how difficult the change over would be and how it would mess with the engineering bla bla bla, how "difficult" getting the right parts would be. You get the drift of the conversations I had with the first two shops?. It was frustrating however I knew what I wanted and I also knew it could be done, so I went to LBS number 3. The third shop....wow...huge difference. Not only did the male employee listen to me he actually had a few ideas that turned out to be pretty useful. Plus set aside his current work and worked on my bike right then and there. Within an hr he had made all the adjustments and changes. I was so pleased I could of kissed him. I got a new cassette, derailleur, and a new chain. Since it's been pretty cold and icy this last week I have yet to get out for a ride and see how things work going up hill, I'll post when I do.

[luv2climb]

The Specialized Amira Sport I bought back in July came with a 50/34 compact double and a 12-28 cassette. I ended up doing the paperboy switchbacking (traversing) on the steeper 14%+ stuff, so I bought a 11-34 cassette, a Shimano Deore XT 9-speed MTB derailleur, and a SRAM 10-speed chain. The bike is 10-speed, but there are no current model Shimano 10-speed MTB derailleurs that will work with Shimano 10-speed road groupsets (this bike came with Shimano 105).

I weighed the 105 and Deore derailleurs and the Deore is only 1/2 ounce heavier than the 105. Not bad for a long-cage MTB derailleur!

my Specialized Amira with climbing gears by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr
my Specialized Amira climbing gears by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

[Crankin]

I have that set up on my custom Guru. It works really well.
However, since I got that bike in 2011, they came out with an Ultegra rear cassette with an 11-32 that I have on my new Trek. The spacing of the gearing does feel different, despite it only being one cog different. I wish they had these compact set ups with closer spacing between the gears. I do miss my triple; not because I don't have enough easy gears, but because I am, again, having trouble finding the sweet spot. As per recommendations, I am staying in the small ring more, which has helped my knees, but it feels ineffecient at times.

[Becky]

Crankin, can you swap your big chainring for something a little smaller, like a 46-tooth ring, to get that closer spacing? 110mm BCD (bolt circle diameter) is pretty common.

[Crankin]

I am not sure. I will have to discuss this with my fitter, the mechanic, and my DH. I definitely will not start messing with changing anything until I've ridden it for a good 2 months in the spring. I don't think 5 rides qualifies as anything!

[marmac51]

The Specialized Amira Sport I bought back in July came with a 50/34 compact double and a 12-28 cassette. I ended up doing the paperboy switchbacking (traversing) on the steeper 14%+ stuff, so I bought a 11-34 cassette, a Shimano Deore XT 9-speed MTB derailleur, and a SRAM 10-speed chain. The bike is 10-speed, but there are no current model Shimano 10-speed MTB derailleurs that will work with Shimano 10-speed road groupsets (this bike came with Shimano 105).

I weighed the 105 and Deore derailleurs and the Deore is only 1/2 ounce heavier than the 105. Not bad for a long-cage MTB derailleur!

i did the same thing with my domane, except 11-32... it works!!

[ny biker]

I had to go to three different LBS.The first two shops tried talking me out of it and or telling me how difficult the change over would be and how it would mess with the engineering bla bla bla, how "difficult" getting the right parts would be. You get the drift of the conversations I had with the first two shops?. It was frustrating however I knew what I wanted and I also knew it could be done, so I went to LBS number 3. The third shop....wow...huge difference. Not only did the male employee listen to me he actually had a few ideas that turned out to be pretty useful. Plus set aside his current work and worked on my bike right then and there. Within an hr he had made all the adjustments and changes. I was so pleased I could of kissed him. I got a new cassette, derailleur, and a new chain. Since it's been pretty cold and icy this last week I have yet to get out for a ride and see how things work going up hill, I'll post when I do.

Third time's the charm! I hope the changes get you up those hills more easily.