Hi Lon,
I would seriously consider the new Shimano compact. It is made for 10sp, but since the "regular" 10sp crank works with 9sp, I suspect it will work as well. For that matter, all the new FSA cranks have spacing that they claim works with 9 or 10sp. In reality it is very close to Shimano's 10sp spacing, which backs up my assumption about the Shimano 10sp compact working well with 9 sp.
Shimano claims this crank has none of the dropped chain problems that other compacts have, due to the "specially designed chainrings", and that it will work well with a normal double front deraileur.
As for FSA, I've used their cranks in the past. The cranks were very nice, but the rings sucked. I was never able to make them shift as smooth as the Shimano cranks they replaced, and had a much higher incidence of chain drop, regardless of how the front deraileur was adjusted. My LBS says the newer FSA chainrings shift much better, but that the EXO Bottom Brackets do not hold up.
Mike
Edited by Mike (12/08/05 01:21 AM)
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