Road Shifter for Mountain Front Derailleur?

I have a Nexave (31.8mm) front derailleur and I'm trying to use a Sora ST-3303 road break\shifter. I'm not having much luck, it seems the shifter is not pushing the cage out far enough to engage the middle and outer chainrings, it's not even coming close. The mechanics seem to be fine, the cable is tight, I've tried adjusting the derailleur but I'm not having any luck.

Are these components compatible, have I missed something ?

 

Shimano sez STI incompatible with mtb/hybrid FD. Been my experience especilly with triples.You got arm length and different throw ratios to deal with in FD.

 

Thanks Boudreaux, I read some of your comments on the "Ridgeback to downs" thread. The only thing I had to compair to at home was a double on my road bike. The throw from inner ring and middle is half again as much as the middle to the outer and when I adjust for outer then I cant't get it to chain on the inner ring.

Thanks for responding, I guess I should have Googled some more before buying the 3303's.

 

You did buy the triple shifters?

 

Yes Sir, I did. I actually did what I thought was adequate research on this. It's not so much about the cost of the shifter that I mind, it's the fact that I asked questions concerning the Nexave vs. the Sora shifters and got thumbs up from a bike shop close the where I work, I haven't seen that guy in the shop in the past month- hum?

I should have started with Cyclingforums.com before I started.