FD woes:compact cranks

[Duende]

Apologies if this has been discussed before. But I went for a Sunday ride today on my old Ciocc, and what immediately became apparent was how better my old 80's era sr campy front derailleur shifted from the small 42 chainring up to the larger 52.

On my modern record 11 compact cranks this not so pleasent and has resulted in my chain coming off at times.

I'm considering swapping my freewheel for an 11-29 and replacing my 34/50 chainrings with 39/53.

Do you all think this would improve my FD shifting and is it even possible to swap chain rings on a compact crank? Something tells me it is not.

[rustychisel]

It ain't the cranks or chainrings.

Disclaimer: [probably not the cranks].... on some bikes with exceptionally short chainstays the angle of chain incidence is pretty extreme, but even so you should be able to get any FD properly setup so that dropoff (chain off the inside or outside under loaded gearchanging) is not an issue.

Derailleur must be pretty close to the big ring, 2mm should do it. The limit screws must be setup accurately and without 'a little extra' movement. You may wish to ever so slightly angle the derailleur cage in to the rear, which will assist in changes down on to the 34t, but I would not concentrate on that in the first instance.

Oh, and a standard FD should play perfectly nicely with compact crankset if set up properly and with correct tolerances.

Have used Ultegra 9sp with Ultegra compact, FSA compact, Campagnolo 10sp standard and compact, Chorus FD with FSA and Campagnolo standard and compact, yada yada, all on the same bike.

If there's a problem it lies somewhere else, like if a chainring has been installed wrong way round.

[Ken Robb]

I have 50-34 Ritchie crank with 9 speed Ergo shifters and derailers and it all shifts perfectly so your problem may be in your adjustments.

[oldpotatoe]

Apologies if this has been discussed before. But I went for a Sunday ride today on my old Ciocc, and what immediately became apparent was how better my old 80's era sr campy front derailleur shifted from the small 42 chainring up to the larger 52.

On my modern record 11 compact cranks this not so pleasent and has resulted in my chain coming off at times.

I'm considering swapping my freewheel for an 11-29 and replacing my 34/50 chainrings with 39/53.

Do you all think this would improve my FD shifting and is it even possible to swap chain rings on a compact crank? Something tells me it is not.

I would say fder adjustment. About 2mm above big ring in height, outer cage aligned with chain when in big ring/small cog..inner limit screw so that chain is about .5mm from inner cage when in lowest gear and small ring..cable TIGHT..three clicks and up it goes to big ring..

I adjust so that chain is actually touching inner cage when in lowest gear and small ring..attach cable then turn inner limit screw out a wee bit..moves cage in, about that .5mm..

if this makes no sense, go see Bicycle Odyssey or Above Category

[Duende]

Thanks for the replies. You guys ROCK once again.

I'll look into doing the adjustments myself. I was a bike mechanic professionally for many years in the 80's, however things have changed to say the least. So many micro adjustments it makes my head spin. No longer a need for a hammer and punch chisel to "straighten things out" it appears! ;)

My bike is currently being serviced by a Pro Campy shop in SF. Not gonna name names here, but I think there's some room for improvement.

Thanks for the tips everyone, and I'll check out those shops Old Potatoe. :)

[ultraman6970]

The only difference between 80's stuff and the new one are the brifters.

[krismac23]

I would also check the back end of the front der. sometimes the seatube angle puts the front der. at a funny angle. If it's Braze-on style, you can use a Angled Shim that Sram makes to help adjust angle of the back end. I use it for a lot of tri-bikes and etc that go Compact rings or smaller bike's with steep ST angles. Hope this helps.


"SRAM Braze-on Front Derailleur washer for compact crank "
Sram part #:11.7615.011.000

[thwart]

I'll look into doing the adjustments myself. I was a bike mechanic professionally for many years in the 80's, however things have changed to say the least. So many micro adjustments it makes my head spin.
Hey, if I can get this right, you can. Hack mechanic, that's me. :rolleyes:

All three of the bikes shown below have compact cranks (two are 11 spd and one 10 spd) and have very smooth, quick front shifting both up and down (the first is the bike that gets the most rollers work… shifting up in front seems to be more difficult there than out on the road, where there's more force applied), and since a pic is worth a kilobyte of words…

BTW, all the overheads are shown with the FD in the furthest inward position---with chain on the small chainring. If you saw my driveway, you'd know why.

[vqdriver]

Damn. Nice bikes

[roydyates]

I adjust so that chain is actually touching inner cage when in lowest gear and small ring..attach cable then turn inner limit screw out a wee bit..moves cage in, about that .5mm..

Ooooh this is really nice. I wish I had thunk of this.

[fogrider]

Apologies if this has been discussed before. But I went for a Sunday ride today on my old Ciocc, and what immediately became apparent was how better my old 80's era sr campy front derailleur shifted from the small 42 chainring up to the larger 52.

On my modern record 11 compact cranks this not so pleasent and has resulted in my chain coming off at times.

I'm considering swapping my freewheel for an 11-29 and replacing my 34/50 chainrings with 39/53.

Do you all think this would improve my FD shifting and is it even possible to swap chain rings on a compact crank? Something tells me it is not.

yes adjust the fd and the chain should stay on...and all the new ramping on the the new chainrings should keep the shifting pretty quick.

the old stuff has a difference of 10 teeth between the chainrings. the new setups has a difference of 14 teeth...more teeth, the slower the shift. back in the day, guys would rave about half step shifting...with a 50/47 chainrings. the shifting was great, but in the San Francisco Bay Area, not very useful. I actually like 48/34, with a 11 cog, the 48 chainring is actually very useful. some are offering a 'mid' setup...50/36.