Mechanical Shimano Front Derailleurs--do they just suck? EDIT: No, I do

[cgolvin]

If memory serves, one member here attributes the SRAM FD suckage to SRAM cranksets -- says they work great with Shimano cranks and rings. But my memory may not serve.

[tv_vt]

No.

[NHAero]

I have Shimano FDs of various vintages on 6 bikes and they all work fine, including the R8000 and R9100 versions on three bikes. I look at the directions each time I set one up, because I don't do it often enough to have committed it to memory.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

I can't believe I just read commentary that has SRAM as the better front shifting design.

What that says is someone doesn't know their rear end from their elbow.

Even the long arm derailleurs as bad as they are to set up comparatively are light years better than Sram shifting has ever been.

To the point that instead of it being a bug, Sram deleted the front derailleur and called it a feature. ...which leads to other, more easily solvable problems

M

[m_sasso]

Originally Posted by Gummee

What that says is someone doesn't know their rear end from their elbow.

Even the long arm derailleurs as bad as they are to set up comparatively are light years better than Sram shifting has ever been.

To the point that instead of it being a bug, Sram deleted the front derailleur and called it a feature. ...which leads to other, more easily solvable problems

M

All true!

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

Toggle Link derailleurs are a flawless product of mechanical genius.

If you're having trouble it's:

A. User error
B. FSA chainrings

What chain? If it's an FSA chain you're shooting yourself in the foot twice.

Hahaha are you German? I work with some German engineers and I can't tell you how many times I've heard the statement, "The product is flawless".

To answer the question, its a Shimano chain.

As for the chainrings, it definitely could be related. I've got a 110 BCD Power2Max from another bike that I'm using on this one, so the Shimano rings weren't going to do the trick. I swapped the FSA rings from a Gossamer crankset onto here and wala, that's where I'm at.

Suggestions for rings that don't suck that will work with a round 110BCD?

[saab2000]

I thought they sucked as well until I figured them out. Inner/outer adjustment is crucial for the limit screws and the cable tension needs to be pretty high even when it’s’ released to the small chainring. Mine are dialed in and rarely do I need to trim the front.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Suggestions for rings that don't suck that will work with a round 110BCD?

Lots of people praise Praxis rings. I had a set (with Praxis Zayante cranks) and they performed extremely well with my Super Record shift group.

[MikeD]

The newer Shimano front derailleurs (11 speed, probably 12 too) are a pain. You really need to follow the Shimano directions for adjusting them to the letter. What's weird, and it's something I just can't get used to since I'm using the older derailleurs too, is that the small ring trim setting is the opposite of 10 and lower speed derailleurs. I go up a climb and I'm rubbing the chain on the derailleur cage until I realize that I have to push the trim adjustment. Getting the cable adjustment is difficult and involves using the limit screws in the adjustment process. That is just ridiculous. The last thing I want to have to do is mess with the limit screws that I painstakingly set up initially. Ugh...

[openwheelracing]

11 speed Shiman FD is so easy to setup and 100% reliable for me. Di2 is even more stupid simple. 12 speed Di2 another level.

There was a time when I couldn't figure it out as a newbie, but once you get it you get it. It's probably as easy is 1-2-3. The hardest part is figuring out all the different cable routing options on different frames.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Lots of people praise Praxis rings. I had a set (with Praxis Zayante cranks) and they performed extremely well with my Super Record shift group.

The Praxis rings are doing well on my otherwise Ultegra Di2 bike. Even better rings are Wickwerks

M

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by Gummee

The Praxis rings are doing well on my otherwise Ultegra Di2 bike. Even better rings are Wickwerks

M

Fact, I"ve had nothing that works as well as my various Wickwerks chainrings. They really are the bomb!

[mattscq]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

Shimano FD can be tricky to set up properly at times. YouTube a good set up video and try it again!

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

It’s just a little weird with the routing but it’s nice that it has a built in tension adjustment. I could never get one of the trims to fully work though.

[Carbonita]

Coming from 10s to 11s a few years back, I remember having fd problems, as tolerances are quite tight with 11s. As noted before, follow instructions carefully, and YouTube freetoride was a good walkthrough.

Edit: get spare cables, you'll need them within a year when the cables fray in the shifters.

[vespasianus]

Honestly, I think they suck. At least the 9,10 and 11 speed stuff I have used. Very heavy action and go bad quickly.

And I agree with you on SRAM brakes.