View Single Post
Old 02-20-11, 09:47 PM
  #2  
conspiratemus1
Used to be Conspiratemus
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Hamilton ON Canada
Posts: 1,512
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 297 Post(s)
Liked 245 Times in 163 Posts
Is there anything wrong with your old Suntour?
Why not an Ultegra to match the rear?

One thing to watch: Modern triple front changers are more "three-dimensional" than old ones from the 1980s, to make them index more reliably with STI-type systems. Because of this, they have pre-conceived ideas about how much smaller the middle ring is supposed to be compared to the big one. (On our set-up, a 42T middle ring fits but a 44T ring scrapes against the lower edge of the inner cage when the chain is on the 53T outer ring, no matter how the cage is trimmed.) So even if you are not using the indexing functionality with your bar-ends, you are constrained by the current indexing standards in your choice of FDs. The 32/48(+/-)/53 "half-step-plus-granny" arrangement that was popular on touring bikes with 5- and 6- speed freewheels in the early 1980s will not work with modern FDs. But if your current middle and big rings respect the current conventions you should be fine with pretty much anything. (Our Santana is the same vintage as yours and it came with 32/42/53 so I'll bet you'll be OK unless you got carried away tinkering with your transmission.)
conspiratemus1 is offline