Cyclocross - 9spd ultegra shifters + new 9spd era deore FD + 1991 sugino triple crankset = work?

9spd ultegra shifters + new 9spd era deore FD + 1991 sugino triple crankset = work?

the ultegra shifters came off a bike with a triple road crankset (ultegra 6500). In theory, will this set up work? Or do triple mountain cranksets have different spacing than road triples?

i'll try the mountain or mechanic section if i don't get a response here... wasn't sure where to post first.

You can probably make it work, but in general road shifters and MTB front derailleurs don't play well together. You need the cable tension to be just right, so having a barrel adjuster somewhere in the setup would be very helpful. You're probably better off getting a cheap road front derailleur.

I've made similar setups work several times. I've even used a rapid rise RD which was a little weird. I kept miss shifting and went back to a normal one.

i cannot seem to get it to work. i have a couple other FDs that i'll play around with (an old suntour 7 spd one that was original to the bike and a triple 105). also have some inline cable adjusters on the way. will report back once i get something to work.

i know its been a long time since i posted on this thread, but i STILL cannot get it to work. I located an ultegra FD to go with the ultegra shifters - and i still have the same issue. Either it won't go into the large chain ring or i cannot get it to drop into the smallest chainring - depending on how its adjusted. grrrr. tried pulling the limit screws out - i can get it to shift everywhere by using my and to move the derailleur, but cannot get it to go with the shifter. i took the shifter off a bike with a 6500 triple front crankset, so i don't know what the issue is.

Did you try adjusting the angle of the derailleur? To get the full range, I angled the rear of the cage inward a little (toward the bike centerline). With a mt. triple, there's so much difference in the chainring diameters, that the angle on the cage gives you more "effective" derailleur throw. I'm using 9-speed 105 shifters, Deore RD, SRAM X5 FD along with a newer Deore triple crank.

I have a Suntour triple from about '92 and I could never get this kind of set up to work reliably for all 3 rings. At least in the case of the Suntour, it just wasn't designed to work with index shifting.

So I went in a different direction. I sold the Shimano shifters and got some used Campy Ergopowers. Anything from about 2001 - 2006 should work. This is because Campy had the good sense to realize that trying to index shift 3 rings adds unnecessary complexity. The left shifter has many detents so that trim works well even with Mountain triple.

Campy shifters aren't compatible with Shimano rear derailleurs out of the box. You need to add something like a Jtek Shiftmate (http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm) to get the throw right. Those are about $40. What I found though is that you can get a pretty good price for Shimano STIs. Enough to about offset the cost of a set of used Campy shifters and a shiftmate.

Campy shifters aren't compatible with Shimano rear derailleurs out of the box. You need to add something like a Jtek Shiftmate (http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm) to get the throw right. Those are about $40. What I found though is that you can get a pretty good price for Shimano STIs. Enough to about offset the cost of a set of used Campy shifters and a shiftmate.

You can also forgo the shiftmate and use alternate RD cable attachment to hack the pull ratio of the shimano RD to work with the campy shifters,
http://www.cxmagazine.com/shimano-campagnolo-ergopower-compatibility &
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946

thanks everyone for the replies. i will try to adjust the angle of the derailleur as i haven't done that yet. otherwise i might have a go with the campy stuff. so i'd have to look for 2001-2006 campy 9 speed stuff?

I have the campy shimano setup. You will need campy ergo 10 sp to work with your 9 speed setup and alt cable routing. And yes, you will have a ghost click in there.
Fyi..i managed to get a 9 sp ergo and shimano rear and 9 cassette to work well without jtek. I did the alt cable thing and it worked fine. Some have said it works because the shiamno rear has floating pulleys??
Regardless, I have a jtek for sale. PM if interested.

You have a 9 speed modern front setup. Needs a nice narrow chain specific for 9 speed. I'd bet the triple front from '91 is a 7 speed triple. Spacing is wider between the rings so jumping from top to middle is fine but now the pull ratio is diminished just enough that it will not go into the granny, and vice-versa.
Therein lies your issue. New crank should fix it right up. 9 speed stuff from 2000 is cheap now.