Compact Chainsets

[cyberknight]

Quick suggestion, why not change the cassette, the 5 tooth difference on the small ring between your current chainset and a compact is in equivalent terms, just over 1 tooth extra on the rear, so if you can get an 8-spd cassette with a more teeth then you are laughing! However the rear mech may be a boundary here, worth checking the spec's IMO though. Easier to swap between cassette's than chainrings of you are going to alternate.

If its a standard 2300 mech its supposedly limited to 26 tooth, you might be able to push it a bit further but like you say a new rear mech + cassette might be cheaper as long as the OP factors in a new chain as well.
I believe a tiagra mech now goes to a 30 tooth so they might be able to run an 8 speed MTB cassette.

 

[amaferanga]

http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/
Rule 5
You really need to comapre the bcd and number of bolts holding the cranks to yours, if the numbers match its should fit
eg bcd 110 is the standard compact double although i cant say i have ever seen a 39 on that chain ring size.Assuming its a standard you could get a 50/34 .

If he's changing the chainset then all that matters is the BB type. BCD and number of bolts only matter if you're swapping chainrings. And as others have said you can't get smaller than a 38 tooth inner with a 130 BCD (standard double ) chainset.

39 tooth rings with 110 bcd are readily available.

 

[cyberknight]

If he's changing the chainset then all that matters is the BB type. BCD and number of bolts only matter if you're swapping chainrings. And as others have said you can't get smaller than a 38 tooth inner with a 130 BCD (standard double ) chainset.

39 tooth rings with 110 bcd are readily available.

Yup , had to find out what the OP had 1st to work out whether he could just put new chainrings on or needed a whole new BB/chain set as they did not know.

 

[bobones]

The 2300 RD will run an 11-28 cassette no bother. I used to use a 2300RD and SRAM PG830 11-28 with a Sora 3450 9 speed compact chainset with HTII BB and 9 speed chain. I got the chainset and BB for about £45 but I don't see anything as cheap now. Out of the 2 chainsets you've listed, I go for the Shimano one because the quality will be better than the Vero (I had a 10speed Vero on my Felt, now replaced with an FSA SLK-light). Incidentally, I'm now running the same 2300RD and Sora chainset with 10 speed shifters and SRAM cassette on my winter bike. The RD doesn't really care how many cogs there are and the Sora 9 speed chainset works just fine with an 8, 9 or 10 speed chain, although a 9 speed chain may run a little quieter on an 8 speed set up than an 8 speed chain.