Originally Posted by bellweatherman
Very nice solution. With the Tektro Clamp-on Cable Stop you have here. you don't even need to use an old pre 80s front derailler because by using the Tektro you are getting the free cable with no housing coming up to the front derailler. Am I right in thinking can use a
modern front derailler in combination with the Shimano clamp-on Cable Guide?
Tektro clamp-on cable stop:
Thanks for your kind comments ;-) And, thanks for posting that picture of the Tektro clamp-on. It shows the holes for the cable housing. BTW, the derailleur housing that I used in those pictures just has the normal 4mm nylon cable end ferrules on each end. You have to do a bit of fiddling around to get the piece of cable housing at the right length and the Tektro clamp-on rotated to the right spot, but these things become pretty obvious when you get down to doing the job.
I would say, without hesitation, that you can use any current Shimano road FD (of course, you need to match FD's to things like chain widths, etc). They are all bottom pull and that would be assumed for this solution. The new FD in those pictures is a Shimano FD-5501 (a 2005 Shimano 105 road double).
This solution, basically, allows you to use a current road front derailleur on an old frame that has a top mounted chainstay cable stop (which implies top_of_the_BB_tube_cable_routing). That Shimano cable guide from Loosescrews is made for 1 1/8" tubing, and many of the bikes from the early '80s were 1 1/8" steel. It looks to me that the very similar Campy Nuovo Record would work just as well. I bought this bike new in '83 and the Shimano part is still perfect, so no worries about longevity.
I believe this answers your question, but if you have more, please fire away.