# Drivetrain issue is driving me bonkers - road integrated shifter w/MTB crankset/FD



## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

I have a 2012 Salsa Fargo 3 which is an absolute monster of a bike. It's beyond fun on all types of terrain and I love it, but it has one extremely glaring flaw that I am at a loss as to how to get it fixed.

I am trying to get road shifters (Sora) to work with the stock drivetrain. The bike originally had bar-end shifters, which drove me nuts, so the bike shop switched them out to road integrated shifters (because I wasn't buying the bike if it had the bar end shifters).

My rear derailleur: Shimano Deore, 9-Speed, Long Cage
My rear cassette: Shimano HG-50 9 speed 11-34T

these seem to work flawlessly. I never seem to have problems shifting with my right hand. In fact, I sometimes have to shift with my right hand in order to get the shifting on my left hand to work.

with my left hand, it's been a constant nightmare.

my front crankset: FSA Alpha Drive Trekking, MD = 175mm
my front chainring: FSA 26-36-48T
my front derailleur: Shimano Deore, Low Clamp, Triple

My front triple is almost like buying bike components. You can have 2, but you can't have all 3. "Lightweight, inexpensive, durable" - pick 2 of 3. "Granny, middle, bigring" - pick 2 of 3.

If I have ideal shifting with granny and middle, then shifting into the big chainring is a 50/50 proposition. If I have ideal shifting with big and middle chainrings, then shifting into granny becomes problematic. I got a JTek adapter, and have had 3 different mechanics work with it at 2 different shops, and in all cases, downshifting from big chainring into middle chainring is a 50/50 proposition. Another mechanic removed the adapter, did some tuning to it, and now shifting into big chainring from the middle is a 50/50 proposition.

When I say "50/50 proposition", what I mean is that if I shift into *gear*, I continue to pedal and after 3 full revolutions, it hasn't shifted, and I end up having to putz around with it (i.e. shift left hand into different chainring, then shift back, or continue to hold left hand shift lever while shifting the right hand - this sometimes does the trick)

Shifting never works consistently with my left hand and I am at a complete loss and frustrated as hell to the point where I just want to punch a wall. Rear shifting is great...never had any problems back there with the road shifters, even though it's a Deore rear derailleur and cassette

If ANYBODY has anything specific they can recommend, please do, and please use specifics as I don't necessarily know what the heck some of these items are.

I have read that apparently there is no possible way to work a set of indexed road shifters with a MTB front triple crankset/derailleur. At the same time, I've read on a few different places, vague references to "using a 10-speed whosie with a 9-speed whatsis" but have no idea how that applies to the left hand shifters and derailleurs since they're only dealing with a 3-speed crank/chainring.

I'd really appreciate any help. The bike, when I don't have to deal with shifting that front chainring, is so fun and so fantastic, but I don't know what to do and I don't have the $$$ to just buy an entire new drivetrain, and even if i did, what do I buy?

SRAM 42/28 w/11-36t? That's great for flat ground, but if I want to load up with some weight and climb a serious gravel mountain pass, I'm outta luck. Similarly, if I want to go for a fast road ride, 42/11 is going to run out of oomph down a hill pretty quickly.

Run a road crankset? 50/39/30? Well I can't use a MTB cassette, so I'm stuck with a road cassette, maybe an 11-32t, with a "granny" ratio of, what, 30/32 at best?

Any help greatly appreciated. Honestly, if it works, I'll ship you a 6-pack of your favorite, I'm so frustrated right now.


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

Did the front derailure come stock on the bike and did you change out bottom brackets? I've had problems in the past with not getting the front derailure to work when my chainline was too far out. I could shift between the two small gears, but just not enough arm swing to get through all 3.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

everything is stock except for a compressionaless jagwire system, and the sora shifters


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

It sounds like it's a case of running mountain derailures with road shifters. I know it's a problem with rear derailures, but not sure about front. If the LBS didn't get this, something doesn't sound right with the LBS.


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## fotooutdoors (Jul 8, 2010)

Some Shimano compatibility notes to start.

For the rear,
8/9/10 speed road (I'm not sure about 11) is entirely compatible (shifter, derailleur, cassette) with 8/9 speed mountain. The exception is that road rear derailleurs can't handle large cogs; usually their max is 28-32 teeth.
10 speed cassettes (road vs mountain) are interchangeable, but you either need to use a road derailleur and road shifter or both need to be mountain.

On the front, things are not so nice. You need to pair derailleur and shifter together. Getting a mountain crank to play well with a road shifter and derailleur is possible (I have a 105 shifter and triple derailleur working with a mountain crank on my wife's bike), but things can easily get off by a bit, and then you are down to two chainrings again.

In short, your options are
1) Replace your front derailleur with a road derailleur. With some coaxing, this will likely work.
2) Replace your front shifter with a bar-end shifter. This is likely what I would do (in fact, I plan to do it this spring to my 2012 Fargo that I have bar ends on), especially since you aren't constantly shifting between chainrings. But, I am accustomed to bar ends, so...
3) Replace your front derailleur and crankset. This will work the best from a shifting perspective, but will limit how low of gear you can run, since the inner chainring BCD dictates the lowest number of teeth that chainring can have, plus you can't have too severe of jump in teeth between your chainrings.


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## Welnic (Feb 6, 2013)

First, be happy the rear stuff works, that is much harder to deal with. I think your problem is the road shifters with mountain bike derailer. Since Shimano's mountain and road shifters pull different amounts of cable I can see where that wouldn't work. You should just get a Sora front derailer. They make a 3x version that covers a 20 tooth range. Since you are running a 22 tooth range that could be a problem, but I would go ahead and try it first. If it is a problem you would probably have to go to a 46T big chainring.

I'm assuming that you have a 3x front shifter, but they do make a 2x Sora front shifter.

If you did have to run a road crankset, you could run whatever you wanted to in the rear. The only affect the front components have on the back is the derailer needs to be able to handle the combined range of the cassette and the chainrings.


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## big_papa_nuts (Mar 29, 2010)

I skimmed the thread so forgive me if this has been covered but I think your problem is two fold. First, Shimano road road shifters are incompatible with their MTB front derailers. Second, your allowing someone who is ignorant of this fact to work on your bike.

My suggestion would be to purchase a Jtek ShiftMate Straight model #7S (Jtek ShiftMate Straight) and find a competent mechanic to install it.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Ok so if I understand, I can

* change front derailleur to a Sora
* find a front triple MTB crankset with a range of 20 (do these exist? Send they all have a range of 22)

If I go with abar-end shifter for the front triple and keep everything else as-is, would I need to change out the shift lever on my left hand or can the shifting be disabled there while the brakes still works?


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

big_papa_nuts said:


> My suggestion would be to purchase a Jtek ShiftMate Straight model #7S (Jtek ShiftMate Straight) and find a competent mechanic to install it.


I tried. 3 mechanics in 2 different shops. Same problem each time.... Downshifting from big ring to middle was wonky


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Welnic said:


> If you did have to run a road crankset, you could run whatever you wanted to in the rear. The only affect the front components have on the back is the derailer needs to be able to handle the combined range of the cassette and the chainrings.


How does one determine this?


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Couldn't this silliness be solved if someone would just make a 46-26 front crank set? Or 44-24? Why 42-28???


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## kpfeif (Mar 7, 2009)

I've happily run 9 speed mtb front mechs with road shifters and both mtb and road cranksets. I don't know what's wrong with your shifting but it shouldn't be a big deal or require any shiftmates. 

Adding the barend shifter will definitely work too.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

kpfeif said:


> I've happily run 9 speed mtb front mechs with road shifters and both mtb and road cranksets. I don't know what's wrong with your shifting but it shouldn't be a big deal.


Your experience runs contrary to what I've been reading all over the internet. Please share your EXACT setup


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## Welnic (Feb 6, 2013)

If you change to a bar ends then the shifter in the brake lever wouldn't have a cable going to it so it wouldn't do anything.

You wouldn't have to find a whole crankset. You would just need to find a 46 tooth big chainring. And I would definitely just try it first.









The front derailer has to go high enough that it clears the big chainring. Then when you shift into the smallest chainring, the chain has to stay high enough that it doesn't drag on the bottom of the cage. If you run a derailer that doesn't have enough range, then when you put the chain on the small chainring and the smallest rear sprocket it will contact the bottom of the cage. So when you try the Sora front derailer if it doesn't work with your current setup you won't be able to run on the smaller half of your cassette when you are in the small chainring. So try it and maybe you would have to live with not being able to use all of your cassette when you are in the small chainring, or you could get a 46T chainring which would allow you to lower the derailer enough.

I'd bet the Sora front derailer would just work.


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## kpfeif (Mar 7, 2009)

the only one i have currently up is a deore 9 speed front mech, tiagra 3x9 shifters, and a sugino xd crank.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

kpfeif said:


> the only one i have currently up is a deore 9 speed front mech, tiagra 3x9 shifters, and a sugino xd crank.


What is the "tooth-out" of your crankset please?


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## kpfeif (Mar 7, 2009)

It's 26/36/48


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## kpfeif (Mar 7, 2009)

Making triples work well can be a pain in the ass, though. Are the limits set properly? Is the cage of the derailleur just barely clearing the outer chainring? Is the derailleur cage oriented parallel to the chainrings? Those are the first things I'd check.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Kpf, you're speaking Greek to me right now

Apparently your setup is identical except it has a Tiagra instead of a Sora


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## kpfeif (Mar 7, 2009)

Googling around the internet I see, as you did, that people have had your problem before and solved it with a road derailleur. A sora front mech is like 10 bucks so might be worth a try.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

kpfeif said:


> Googling around the internet I see, as you did, that people have had your problem before and solved it with a road derailleur. A sora front mech is like 10 bucks so might be worth a try.


yeah, that's what i'm going to try next


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

what kind of Sora front derailleur would I need? I have read that there are multiple kinds, some are direct mount, some are long pull or whatever, some are 9-speed, some 10-speed (I really don't understand this concept at all...it's a 3-speed front crankset, why does the 9 or 10-speed in the back matter?) I know nothing of what this means. Which should I try?


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## Welnic (Feb 6, 2013)

Direct mount means that the bike has a special tab sticking out from the seat tube that the front derailer bolts onto. If the frame doesn't have one of those then it needs to attach with a clamp that goes around the seat tube. The difference between a 9 and a 10 speed would be that the two plates that push the chain around are slightly narrower on the 10 speed since it is a narrower chain.

So you want a Sora 3x 28.6mm clamp front derailer. It looks to me like Sora is 9 speed only, so you don't have to worry about that. 28.6mm is the size of the clamp that fits your seat tube, and that might be something that you have to look for.

Amazon.com : Shimano Front Derailleur, Sora, Fd-3503 Band-Type 31.8Mm, W/28.6Mm Adapter For Triple Chainwheel, Ind.Pack : Front Bike Derailleurs : Sports & Outdoors


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## gsa103 (Sep 1, 2014)

sgtrobo said:


> what kind of Sora front derailleur would I need? I have read that there are multiple kinds, some are direct mount, some are long pull or whatever, some are 9-speed, some 10-speed (I really don't understand this concept at all...it's a 3-speed front crankset, why does the 9 or 10-speed in the back matter?) I know nothing of what this means. Which should I try?


Direct mount refers to how the derailleur mounts, either with a clamp or directly to a hanger on the frame. There are no 10-speed Sora front derailleurs, Sora is still 9-speeds. Ideally, you would match the derailleur series to your shifters, ie ST-3503 shifter with FD-3503 derailuer.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Road front derailleurs are still pretty easy. Looking at SKUs, it can seem like there are a lot of choices, but if you attack it systematically, no big deal.

First, the mounting style. You need to match what you've got. Probably a band around your seat tube - am I right? Match the diameter. You can get that by measuring, but it's usually also printed on the band if you don't have calipers.

It's probably down swing. That means the band is above the mechanism. And it's probably bottom pull. That means the shifter cable goes under the bottom bracket and pulls from below.

Can you post a pic of the current front derailleur?

For number of speeds, that's about matching the chain width. Since your chain is 9-speed, and a bit wider, you might get marginally better performance from a 9-speed front derailleur. I don't think Sora has gone 10-speed yet, so nothing to worry about there. If you do have to go 10-speed to match the other stuff, don't sweat it. The pull ratios didn't change for road. At worst, you're looking at some noise when you're cross-chained a little less than what causes noise now. Going to a 10-speed chain would help if it bothers you. I find I don't care enough to spend the extra on my mixed-drivetrain bike. (Sora 9-speed shifters, SRAM Rival double front derailleur and crank.)

Just to be explicit, you must use a triple front derailleur.

As far as alternate chain ring tooth counts, you can have them if you want them. You just have to piece a crank set together from aftermarket components. The smallest possible chain ring is 20t without getting into really exotic or custom stuff. But your BCDs (Bolt Circle Diameter) are most likely either 110 and 74 or 104 and 64. Post that pic. 

Like the other poster, I think if you drop a triple front derailleur for a 20t chain ring range into your existing drivetrain, it will work fine. But if you're unhappy with your current chain ring selection, this is a good time to think about it.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

ok, wasn't real sure what to take pictures of, hopefully these are good

I think if you click on the mini-pictures they'll take you to a big version of each


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

AndrwSwitch said:


> First, the mounting style. You need to match what you've got. Probably a band around your seat tube - am I right? *yessir* Match the diameter. You can get that by measuring, but it's usually also printed on the band if you don't have calipers. *nope, couldn't find any numbers on the band, just "Deore"*
> 
> It's probably down swing. That means the band is above the mechanism. And it's probably bottom pull. That means the shifter cable goes under the bottom bracket and pulls from below. *yes! It does that, I saw that. I don't think I got a picture of it but yeah, it goes underneath the bottom bracket, there are 2 wires that go along the underside of the bottom bracket*
> 
> ...


I like my chain ring. I love everything about this bike. Except for shifting into the big chainring up front.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

OK, so it's a top swing front derailleur. That's actually kind of hard to find in a road front derailleur, but it looks like your seat tube is straight. So if the water bottle boss isn't right where your derailleur clamp needs to be, you can use a bottom swing derailleur. That's something you'll just have to test fit to know. If you can't fit a bottom swing front derailleur and your shop can't source a top swing road front derailleur (it's possible these aren't in production, they'd be really uncommon if they are) you may not be able to make this particular combination work.

Good to get confirmation on bottom pull. That's pretty typical on road bikes.

FSA claims that by using their designated chainring combinations, you can get less crappy shifting. I don't have a terribly high opinion of FSA. But the numbers you saw are telling you that your chainrings are supposed to be used in that combination.

Touring bikes are kind of the middle child these days. Yours is a mountain bike crank with big chain rings. That means that you can substitute most mountain bike chain rings. It sounds like you're okay with the rings themselves, though.

I think the shifter/front derailleur problem is your problem. Here's a thread elsewhere that talks a little bit about it.
Are Shimano R440 road flat bar shifters compatible with a mountain bike front derailleur? - Bicycles Stack Exchange

There are basically three solutions. You can get a mountain shifter, a road front derailleur, or a shifter that doesn't care. It's basically a matter of where you want to put the shifter.

To use the type of integrated shifter you're trying to use and keep three chain rings, you pretty much have to pair it with a road triple front derailleur. I bet you could get away with a mountain double crank and front derailleur, but I don't really know and it would be kind of an inexpensive experiment. And, you'd have to give up something.

If you can't fit a road triple front derailleur, bar end shifters aren't the only alternative. FWIW, I've used bar ends a little and thought they were super awkward.

You could also do downtube shifters if you can find a clamp to mount them. (Or just the left one.) I like downtube shifters okay, though I do think integrated shifters are one of the few substantive technologies to come out for bikes in the last twenty-five years; I won't judge you if you want to stick with them.

You could mount a thumb shifter someplace more convenient than the ends of your bars. You need to get something with a fairly flexible clamp, road bars are a little bigger around than mountain bars.

You could get Retroshift shifters. They're kind of expensive. Basically it just mounts your bar end shifters on the fronts of your brake levers.
Cyclocross Shifters

I guess if it was my bike, my next try would be to test fit a bottom swing road triple front derailleur. If it works, you're done and you have the shifting you want, relatively cheaply and with no additional drama. If it doesn't, choose the most palatable option above and try that.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

can you suggest a "bottom swing road triple front derailleur"?

Is this one of those:

Shimano Sora Front Derailleur - Old Town Bicycle

it doesn't say anything about bottom or top swing

those cyclocross shifters you showed me look ok, but I don't see how you can shift them back and forth. Do you basically just lift your hand off the hoods or drops and reach over top of your brake lever?

I have a feeling I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and use a bar end shifter for my front chainring. Kinda upsetting since I wouldn't have bought the bike if I knew I'd go through all this horse$hit

edit - y'know, looking more at those Cyclocross shifters from gevenalle, those look like they might not be so bad after all


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## Welnic (Feb 6, 2013)

That's the derailer you want. The Triple with the 28.6 clamp. It doesn't say anything about bottom or top swing because it only comes one way.


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## SimpleJon (Mar 28, 2011)

For every person I know / have read about who has got MTB FD's to work with Road STI shifters there are probably 10 who have had the issues you are talking about. (I tried once and couldn't get it to work either)


The other issue that you may have is that a roadie and MTB have different chainlines, a road FD may stop out before reaching the big ring, you can get a clamp from problem solvers that moves the FD out for MTB chainlines. With Hollowtech cranks if the frame has chainstay clearance for the chainrings you can put move BB spacers to the none drive and bring the chainline in, that can't be done with a cartridge BB as per your bike

FWIW When I go offroad or very steep touring I sometimes run my CX bike with a mix of MTB and road. I use 10 speed Ultegra 6703 STI's, 6703 52/39/30 crank and 6703 FD. At the back I use a M772 Long cage 9 speed XT RD and a 10 speed 11/36 cassette this works perfectly.

(EDIT: Scratch the pulley posted earlier just seen yours is bottom pull you don't need it)


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## fotooutdoors (Jul 8, 2010)

I run a bottom swing road front derailleur on my second generation Fargo with a mountain crank. It does max out the derailleur for the swing to the outside, but will run without dragging. Like I said, my wife's bike runs a mountain triple, road derailleur, and STI shifters. It takes some work to get shifting correctly initially, but it should work out.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

ok gentlemen,

the decision has been made.

this weekend I'll be heading down to Portland to put a leg over a few bikes with the Gevenalle shifters. I'm taking my noble steed with me (my wife is bringing her new bike that she loves) and we're going to do a little riding down there for Valentine's Day, hit some of the impressive food trucks they have down there, and we'll visit a store or 2.

I really like the looks of how those Gevenalle shifters seem to work, just seems like a lot of advantages to them. In fact, it seems like this would be a worthwhile investment for quite a few folks with drop bars, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. I'm going to give the shifters a try, and if I like them, I'm getting them mounted on the Fargo, and then you folks won't have to put up with my incessant whining anymore 

wish me luck guys!


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Your experience is one of the reasons I'm generally down on buying bikes with the intention of changing things around. Too often, there turn out to be unanticipated problems.

I actually just had something somewhat similar happen to me - I decided to lower the gearing on one of my mountain bikes by buying a crankset with smaller chain rings. Turns out SRAM low direct mount front derailleurs aren't adjustable. D'oh!

Part of me is thinking I'll buy my next bike as a bare frame. That's probably a ways off, though.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Your experience is one of the reasons I'm generally down on buying bikes with the intention of changing things around. Too often, there turn out to be unanticipated problems.
> 
> I actually just had something somewhat similar happen to me - I decided to lower the gearing on one of my mountain bikes by buying a crankset with smaller chain rings. Turns out SRAM low direct mount front derailleurs aren't adjustable. D'oh!
> 
> Part of me is thinking I'll buy my next bike as a bare frame. That's probably a ways off, though.


Yeah that just makes sense. Once you've been riding for awhile I imagine you think to yourself that each bike you like has imperfections and that you'd like to switch stuff around.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I have a Retroshift/mtb 1x10 setup on my Vaya. I love that shifting setup.

I have mine set up with a Shimano triple crankset with a singlespeed ring, a 9spd SLX derailleur, a 10spd XT 11-36 cassette, and a 10spd chain. Shifting is nice (no front derailleur!), but keep in mind that the allen on the end of the shifter needs to be adjusted (it's sort of a preload adjuster that sets the resistance - derailleurs with a stiffer spring like the 9spd SLX need more resistance to prevent the derailleur from causing the bike to shift automatically) to keep it in place.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Wait I don't get it. Why have a triple up front if you're only using one ring?


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

sgtrobo said:


> Wait I don't get it. Why have a triple up front if you're only using one ring?


Well, since there were no single ring road/cross cranksets available when I built this bike, my only option was to purchase a triple, remove all the ramped/pinned rings, and install a singlespeed ring in the middle position for chainline purposes. I have 46t and 44t chainrings for this bike.

Needed shorter chainring bolts, too.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

wow, just a 44t up front? That's nutsoid! You don't ever go up hills? Or do you just got that kinda game?


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## big_papa_nuts (Mar 29, 2010)

sgtrobo said:


> I tried. 3 mechanics in 2 different shops. Same problem each time.... Downshifting from big ring to middle was wonky


Unfortunately, given the lack of oversight and consumer demand, the ratio of good bicycle mechanics to bad, IME, is closer to one in ten.

Anyways, I took a minute to (mostly) read this thread and would agree that trying a Sora front derailer would be worthwhile. There may be chainline issues and hopefully the cage bosses aren't in the way, but it's a cheap experiment that should work.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

44/36 is pretty reasonable on a road bike. It's not too dissimilar from 34/28, which is where mine hit bottom.

44/11 is a plenty high gear ratio too. I'm not even going to be allowed to race something that high on the track this summer.

11-36 cassettes have a ton of range.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

big_papa_nuts said:


> I took a minute to (mostly) read this thread and would agree that trying a Sora front derailer would be worthwhile. There may be chainline issues and hopefully the cage bosses aren't in the way, but it's a cheap experiment that should work.


I was going to give that a try until I saw the Gevenalle shifters linked above, and I really like the looks of those things. They seem a lot more precise and the idea of not having to click-click-click-click-click repeatedly, to just ZOOOOOM right to the cassette gear I want, is quite desirable. Plus, the exactness and ease of tuning of a friction shifter is also appealing.



AndrwSwitch said:


> 44/36 is pretty reasonable on a road bike. It's not too dissimilar from 34/28, which is where mine hit bottom.
> 
> 44/11 is a plenty high gear ratio too. I'm not even going to be allowed to race something that high on the track this summer.
> 
> 11-36 cassettes have a ton of range.


yeah, i forget that i'm talking about road bikes here, I don't own a bike that has anything other than MTB gears and such, different world!


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

sgtrobo said:


> wow, just a 44t up front? That's nutsoid! You don't ever go up hills? Or do you just got that kinda game?


I have the 46t installed right now. And no, I use this bike as a commuter in Indianapolis. I don't have much for climbs. Freeway overpasses at most. If I ever take it on a gravel tour in the hillier parts of the state, I may fiddle with the gearing a bit. Smaller chainring, and a Wolftooth 40 or 44t, with a Radr cage on the derailleur possibly (not sure it will fit on a 9spd SLX, will have to investigate).

I definitely don't need anymore top end gearing on this bike. As it is, I don't ever use 46x11. I have been thinking about using the 44t as my biggest for that reason. I'm not using the gear range I have.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

Well I'm sitting in Thai restaurant across the street from Sellwood Bike shop in Portland. I took a ride on a Kona Jake they had on hand with the Genevalle shifters to see what I thought

My thoughts are simple : These things are awesome, truly awesome and I hope like heck they work on my bike. They shifted so easily and smoothly.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

they are a great set of shifters


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## GT87 (Mar 18, 2014)

Man, you should have just stuck with the bar-end shifters. A lot of trouble to downgrade to Soras.


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

GT87 said:


> Man, you should have just stuck with the bar-end shifters. A lot of trouble to downgrade to Soras.


Bar ends were tough on the Woodchippers. The bars are so long and wide (that's what she said *groan*) it was just not a good combo for me. Besides I found the solution. Just did 41 miles with a mix of off-road and pavement and these Gevenalle shifters are an absolute dream. I'm so stoked with the performance of these shifters, I'd give serious consideration to putting these on ANY road bike, even ones with perfectly functioning indexed shifters


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## GT87 (Mar 18, 2014)

sgtrobo said:


> Bar ends were tough on the Woodchippers. The bars are so long and wide (that's what she said *groan*) it was just not a good combo for me. Besides I found the solution. Just did 41 miles with a mix of off-road and pavement and these Gevenalle shifters are an absolute dream. I'm so stoked with the performance of these shifters, I'd give serious consideration to putting these on ANY road bike, even ones with perfectly out a functioning indexed shifters


Ah, i could see how they might be weird on woodchippers. I've used them extensively on cowbells and wtb mtn-road drops and i love them. Glad you finally found a setup that works for you


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## sgtrobo (Aug 19, 2014)

GT87 said:


> Ah, i could see how they might be weird on woodchippers. I've used them extensively on cowbells and wtb mtn-road drops and i love them. Glad you finally found a setup that works for you


Yeah me too. I'm so pumped


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