Triple Crank Problem

[Swoop]

I am trying to fix my girlfriend's bike. It has pretty much defeated me. It is an Ultegra 9 speed triple crank and STI. From my understanding it should shift the small to middle chain ring on the first click, trim on the middle ring second click, shift to big ring on third click. I have set up the derailleur and checked alignment and low limit screw as well as high screw. No matter how tight I get the cable....( snugged up and then barrel adjuster all the way tight) I can not get it to shift to the middle ring on first click....which then makes it all but impossible to get to the big ring using a 4th click that isn't really supposed to be there. So the only things I can think of after a couple of hours working on it...is either my understanding of the triple chain ring is wrong....or that there is something wrong with the system...probalby the levers as the FD looks to be normal. Anyways...all help would be appreciated.

 

[gclark8]

I have noticed some shifters have a trim on the small and the middle rings.

 

[Retro Grouch]

Goto the Park Tool website. Find front derailleur installation and adjustment.

Now disconnect your shift cable and start at the very beginning with the position of the derailleur on the seat tube. Do each step in order (important) and don't skip any steps. It'll work.

 

[Swoop]

Goto the Park Tool website. Find front derailleur installation and adjustment.

Now disconnect your shift cable and start at the very beginning with the position of the derailleur on the seat tube. Do each step in order (important) and don't skip any steps. It'll work.

I have done that...park tool and shimano techincal documents....to no avail.

 

[Eden]

I have done that...park tool and shimano techincal documents....to no avail.

I have 105's but I am guessing the setup should be basically the same.
1st click trims the smallest chainring, 2nd click moves it up to the middle, 3rd click trims the middle, 4th click moves up to large chainring - no more clicks after this.
Of course this is on the stand, which means its under no load. Riding it acts differently. Its hard to hear the clicks, but physically its pretty difficult to move from small to middle chainrings smoothly. We (my husband and I) tried tweaking it all over the place and it was always the same. middle to large easy, small to middle a bit of a pain. I am thinking I will switch to a compact double with the hopes of getting a good gear range with better shifting. It always does eventually shift and if speed was not an issue I don't think it would bother me, but I was trying to see if I could get it to shift easier because I was going to compete in a hillclimb time trail and I figured seconds could be important. In the end I decided to *not* use the small chainring on the climb at all as shifting out of it could cost me those seconds and it was the right decision. I came in 6th 2 seconds in front of the girl behind me and 2 seconds behind the one in 5th.

 

[Insight Driver]

I am trying to fix my girlfriend's bike. It has pretty much defeated me. It is an Ultegra 9 speed triple crank and STI. From my understanding it should shift the small to middle chain ring on the first click, trim on the middle ring second click, shift to big ring on third click. I have set up the derailleur and checked alignment and low limit screw as well as high screw. No matter how tight I get the cable....( snugged up and then barrel adjuster all the way tight) I can not get it to shift to the middle ring on first click....which then makes it all but impossible to get to the big ring using a 4th click that isn't really supposed to be there. So the only things I can think of after a couple of hours working on it...is either my understanding of the triple chain ring is wrong....or that there is something wrong with the system...probalby the levers as the FD looks to be normal. Anyways...all help would be appreciated.

alright.. I've read your replies and have a suggestion: get new cables. Sounds to me like the cable housings are worn. There must be some stretch to the cabling system that should not be there. I am sure the shifter mechanism and the derailer machanism are fine. The culprit, then, is the cable connection between them. This defeats a lot of beginning mechanics because it is not an obvious thing.

 

[Retro Grouch]

I have done that...park tool and shimano techincal documents....to no avail.

It's a pretty simple mechanism and I've never encountered one that i couldn't get to work. Of course, I haven't tried yours so YMMV.

I've found they are sensitive to the position of the derailleur cage relative to the chainrings and they are sensitive to the position of the low limit stop. Everything else indexes off of those two adjustments so, if they're wrong, all of the fiddling in the world won't make it right. That's why disconnecting the shift cable and starting from step 1 is important.

 

[TheFritoBandito]

I used to have a triple (just switched it out to a double) and a 105 FD with Ultegra shifters. I only had a click from small to middle, and a second click from middle to big. No trim clicks, in other words. I don't know if that will be any help...but even with no trim clicks, I didn't have any rubbing problems except when I was in a gear with an extremely bad chainline (like the 42-12 or the 52-25).

 

[lwedge]

I have done that...park tool and shimano techincal documents....to no avail.

Just a thought .... It sounds like you are trying to shift a "Mountain FD" with road shifters.

Can you give us the model# of FD and Shifters. Has this combo ever worked in the past ?