ergomo spacers & spindle length

[mtpisgah]

I installed my ergomo last night and all went well until I tried the front derailleur. I could not adjust it to go into the big ring without great difficulty (pushing and holding the shift lever- Shimano). I had a spacer from an XT external bottom bracket crankset (about 3-4mm thick) so I put it on the non drive side of the ergomo to effectively shorten the spindle length on the drive side. It worked and now I can shift easily. The wires come out at 10:00 now right along the downtube, I may put another of the ergomo spacers in to try to get it to 9:00. Does anyone see a problem with using a thicker spacer? I am going to call the shop where I bought it and ask if it is available in a shorter spindle length.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

I installed my ergomo last night and all went well until I tried the front derailleur. I could not adjust it to go into the big ring without great difficulty (pushing and holding the shift lever- Shimano). I had a spacer from an XT external bottom bracket crankset (about 3-4mm thick) so I put it on the non drive side of the ergomo to effectively shorten the spindle length on the drive side. It worked and now I can shift easily. The wires come out at 10:00 now right along the downtube, I may put another of the ergomo spacers in to try to get it to 9:00. Does anyone see a problem with using a thicker spacer? I am going to call the shop where I bought it and ask if it is available in a shorter spindle length.

Unless the chainline is way off with your ergomo spindle, why don't you just retension the front derailleur cable and reset the high and low limits? That's what I had to do when I installed my Ergomo, it wasn't a big deal. The stop screws didn't bring me far enough but a slight tweak there along with retensioning the cable did the trick. In my case the chainline was still very good. I've since gone to PT wheels and had to reverse the adjustment when I pulled the Ergomo back out, but it was easy to go the other way as well. Other than that I don't see a problem with an additional left side spacer, but it seems uneccesary.

 

[Speedskater]

I installed my ergomo last night and all went well until I tried the front derailleur. I could not adjust it to go into the big ring without great difficulty (pushing and holding the shift lever- Shimano). I had a spacer from an XT external bottom bracket crankset (about 3-4mm thick) so I put it on the non drive side of the ergomo to effectively shorten the spindle length on the drive side. It worked and now I can shift easily. The wires come out at 10:00 now right along the downtube, I may put another of the ergomo spacers in to try to get it to 9:00. Does anyone see a problem with using a thicker spacer? I am going to call the shop where I bought it and ask if it is available in a shorter spindle length.

This seems to be normal with ergomo. I have got he shortest spindle length for octalink that is specifically intended for Dura Ace cranks, but the Q-factor has increased by approximately 2 mm, so I had to adjust the front derailleur for 2 mm.

 

[mtpisgah]

Adjusting the set screws was the first thing I did. Loosening the cable and readjusting the set screws was the second thing I did. Going from a DA 10 spd crank to the 102 square taper BB and ergomo cranks made a much bigger difference than I would have thought. I will see how it rides this weekend.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

.... Loosening the cable and readjusting the set screws was the second thing I did. ....

If you want to be able to shift into your new big ring, you're going to have to tighten the cable. Loosening it allows you to check the end stops and allows you to shift into a lower Q factor small ring, but you need additional cable tension for the STI shifter to move the front derailleur up onto the new big ring in its wider position.