Looking to by by first bike and have been to several LBS who are giving conflicting opinions on compact cranks. I am a beginner and live in the hills but will also do 40-60 flat rides.

What are the pros and cons of going with a compact crank?

Thanks!

One thing you could do to help educate yourself is go to the Components forum and do a search. Lots of info will pop up about the subject, rather than just relying on others to respond to this thread.

I actually have a triple and a compact. One of the better road bikes I own I bought in '99 and it has a triple crank. At that time my thinking was that I wanted to be able to ride that bike anywhere in the country and not be limited by equipment. Compacts were not really around as an idea for road bikes at that time, only became popular after a few pro riders used them in a few stages of some big races. My most recent bike has a compact crank, I like it as much as the triple but I need to switch the small ring from a 34 to a 36 and the cassette from a 23 to a 25.

A compact almost gives you the range of a triple while using a double crank, almost meaning get yourself a gear inch chart and do a side by side comparison of the gear inches for compact vs. triple. Once you understand the relationship of what each setup provides, then you can make an educated decision.

Some reasons compact are an advantage over a triple, less chance of the chain coming off, triples tend to throw chains sometimes, quicker shifting, less weight.

I like a triple for two main reasons - less cross chaining so there is less wear on the chain and cassette because the chain runs straighter, and I tend to shift a lot between the middle and large chainrings to get the "right" gear. This is especially important when riding in a group situation. You don't find yourself pedaling too slow (hard) or too fast. You have about a 1/2 gear difference switching chainrings if you drop a gear or two with the cassette. When you have a compact, the drop is too too much so I found myself staying in one chainring and either spinning too fast for my conditioning or not spinning fast enough and finding it harder and I should be pedaling faster.

Then the extra granny chainring is nice for hills. I also use the smaller chainring when I'm doing some smooth dirt trails and I lead some slower groups so it's also a nice gear.

I'm pretty much with Lawrence on this. I have triples on both my road bikes, but the two big rings are 46-36, close to many compacts, and I do nearly all my riding in those two.
. When I rode a 53-39 double, I had about five gears up top that I rarely used (the only time I EVER went into the 53-12 was to prove to myself I couldn't turn it). I spent most of my time in the small ring. When I switched to a 46-36-26 triple (with 12-28 cassette), I got way more gears I actually could use, lost the ones I didn't use, gained a granny for when I needed it and didn't give up anything (the shifting difficulties of a triple are often exaggerated, I think. I probably missed half a dozen shifts in 4000 miles last year).
In my case, I don't use the granny often--the gearing in the top two rings will handle most of what I do. But it is nice to have it here in the Sierra.

Not another compact thread.........

That said, you could use the search features as there're lots of info there on many previous threads. You might not even need a compact and a double could well suffice for you.

Shimano compacts shift just as well as "normal" size cranks, so there isn't a "down side". If you choose a cassette with a 12 tooth cog, you can still wind it up to the high 30's.