Front Derailleurs

[pedz]

Hi,

When I was a child, I had a 10 speed bicycle from Sears I think. I learned how to adjust the two settings on the front and rear derailleurs and at the time I was a tiny bit dissatisfied. The four extremes are hard to get right and, in my judgement, not possible to get "perfect". The four extremes being the highest gear on the front and back, the lowest gear on the front and back, and the hightest gear on one and the lowest gear on the other. And by "perfect" I mean that the bicycle will shift into that gear and not drag on the derailleur after the shift is complete. At the time, I had just regular "analog" (I'll call them cause I don't know the term) shifters so I could sneak the derailleur back a tiny bit to shut it up.

With the bike I have now, it is roughly the same situation. I have a Specialized bike with Shamano derailluers front and back. Its a pretty basic bike I guess. $1000. Its way nice and I really like it. It has indexed shifters that are just so much fun to play with. But, as I said, it has the same problem of my bike when I was 10. The front derailleur, in particular, will drag either on the inside or the outside if I am in either the highest or lowest gear on the rear. Its not a big deal but I'm curious, is this the best bicycle technology has to offer? Or is it the case that if I spent a ton more money, this small annoyance would be solved? And, the other tiny tidbit is I can't shut it up like I use to. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to solve the problem but I actually have no idea. Maybe I'm the only person that perceives it as a problem.

I'm curious about the experience of others with other derailleurs and if they find the clicking annoying like I do or not.

Thanks,
pedz

[ScienceIsCool]

Yup. That's completely normal to expect a bit of rubbing in the extreme combinations such as big chainring/big rear cog and small chainring/small cog. If you do put your chain into one of those combinations, stand behind your bike and take a look. The chain will be bent sideways at a pretty big angle.

Worse than the rubbing on the front derailleur will be the accelerated wear in the chain and a pretty big loss in efficiency due to enormous amonts of side loading.

If you're curious, the Park Tool website has a great tutorial on how to set up your front derailleur for minimum rub and best shifting performance.

Hi,

When I was a child, I had a 10 speed bicycle from Sears I think. I learned how to adjust the two settings on the front and rear derailleurs and at the time I was a tiny bit dissatisfied. The four extremes are hard to get right and, in my judgement, not possible to get "perfect". The four extremes being the highest gear on the front and back, the lowest gear on the front and back, and the hightest gear on one and the lowest gear on the other. And by "perfect" I mean that the bicycle will shift into that gear and not drag on the derailleur after the shift is complete. At the time, I had just regular "analog" (I'll call them cause I don't know the term) shifters so I could sneak the derailleur back a tiny bit to shut it up.

With the bike I have now, it is roughly the same situation. I have a Specialized bike with Shamano derailluers front and back. Its a pretty basic bike I guess. $1000. Its way nice and I really like it. It has indexed shifters that are just so much fun to play with. But, as I said, it has the same problem of my bike when I was 10. The front derailleur, in particular, will drag either on the inside or the outside if I am in either the highest or lowest gear on the rear. Its not a big deal but I'm curious, is this the best bicycle technology has to offer? Or is it the case that if I spent a ton more money, this small annoyance would be solved? And, the other tiny tidbit is I can't shut it up like I use to. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to solve the problem but I actually have no idea. Maybe I'm the only person that perceives it as a problem.

I'm curious about the experience of others with other derailleurs and if they find the clicking annoying like I do or not.

Thanks,
pedz

[ScienceIsCool]

I forgot to mention that comninations such as big chainring/small cog and small chainring/large cog are easy to achieve with no chain rub and minimal side loading. Again, visit the Park Tool website for instructions.


Yup. That's completely normal to expect a bit of rubbing in the extreme combinations such as big chainring/big rear cog and small chainring/small cog. If you do put your chain into one of those combinations, stand behind your bike and take a look. The chain will be bent sideways at a pretty big angle.

Worse than the rubbing on the front derailleur will be the accelerated wear in the chain and a pretty big loss in efficiency due to enormous amonts of side loading.

If you're curious, the Park Tool website has a great tutorial on how to set up your front derailleur for minimum rub and best shifting performance.