Bicycle Mechanics - Flat bar road bike, MTB shifter for the front derailleur?

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Barchettaman
11-17-11, 03:36 AM
I am converting a road frame thatīs slightly too big for me into a flat bar.

Set up is to be 3x8, all the bits are waiting to go on.

The LH shifter came off a wrecked commuter bike with a top pull triple front derailleur.

I want to run it with a standard īroadī down pull triple front derailleur as the frame doesnīt have any top tube or seat tube cable stops, and thatīs the only FD I have lying around.

Will it work?
Thanks in advance. I searched but couldnīt find anything specific.

Barchettaman
11-17-11, 03:44 AM
I should also mention that I have a cheap thumb shifter kicking around in the parts bin so I could just use that for the front derailleur and forget about a triple indexed shifter.

By the way I have other drop bar road bikes which I love, just looking to make something of this frame.
LesterOfPuppets
11-17-11, 03:56 AM
If it's a multi-click (like a current Sram Attack for instance) or friction shifter then I think you could probably get it to work. If it's a three or four position index shifter then I wouldn't hold out much hope for making that work, assuming you're talking about a road front derailleur.

EDIT: actually, I guess I've been on touring setups with trekking bars similar to the setup you're talking about that worked OK. So it might work out with a variety of shifters and FDs.

AEO
11-17-11, 04:23 AM
there are flat bar shifters for road FDs.

but for the cheap method, that thumb shifter should work plenty fine.
Barchettaman
11-17-11, 07:25 AM
I think I will go with the cheap arse method, it would be annoying to cable everything up and find it doesnt work.
DCB0
11-17-11, 09:57 AM
Yeah, go with friction shifting.

THe other option would be to get a bottom pull mtb front derailleur. THese can cost as little as ~15 dollars (what is that in euros? 10? 25,000?)
Barchettaman
11-22-11, 04:55 AM
Looking for bottom pull MTB front derailleurs, the max front chainring size is 48, and the FSA chainring on my triple is 53.

Does anyone make a suitable MTB front mech for this size of chainring?

Or will I have to take a downpull MTB front mech for a date with the grinder at work?

Thanks all
simon