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Do any of you switch chainrings manually? Are there any tools available for the job?

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Do any of you switch chainrings manually? Are there any tools available for the job?

Old 07-21-15, 07:44 PM
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Just to be clear (for some who seem to have missed the point).

A FD is useful for shifting on the move. As it is I don't really need a FD as I can predict what chainring I would need before starting out.

So just being able to shift once before I start is good enough. Well, at least for the forseeable future.

I'm just looking for a tool to do this more easily. Maybe that 'O' ring hook is the way to go.
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Old 07-21-15, 08:24 PM
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Just an idea - how about modifying a front derailer by removing (or breaking) the tension spring and tightening up the pivot points somehow so that it does not flop around and stays put in one position. This way you could manually move the derailer inwards or outwards before starting the ride to switch the front gears. The FD is light enough by itself and your hands will stay clean because the derailer will do pushing the chain up or down the chain rings.
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Old 07-21-15, 08:31 PM
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I think I get your original point, but in what way do you expect a tool to perform better than just using a stick, or just using a paper towel to grab the chain with your hand?
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Old 07-21-15, 08:38 PM
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How 'bout this: mount a clamp-on friction downtube shifter very low on either the downtube or seat tube, and cable it up to an actual derailleur. From the bottom of the downtube, it could route normally under the BB with a guide; from the bottom of the seattube it could either loop around the front of the BB and then through a guide, or could probably be creatively rigged up to act direct from the shifter to the FD. Wouldn't be much kludgier than some rigged "suicide" shifter pictured earlier, would be totally impractical to use in motion, keeps the handlebars and most of the rest of the bike clean of shifting detritus.
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Old 07-21-15, 08:39 PM
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You could buy a Sturmey Archer seat post shifter. It will make your bike look a little more...interesting
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Old 07-21-15, 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by agenkin
Just an idea - how about modifying a front derailer by removing (or breaking) the tension spring and tightening up the pivot points somehow so that it does not flop around and stays put in one position. This way you could manually move the derailer inwards or outwards before starting the ride to switch the front gears. The FD is light enough by itself and your hands will stay clean because the derailer will do pushing the chain up or down the chain rings.
How about mounting a front derailleur and just a cable with an inline barrel adjuster. If the adjuster has enough travel he should be able to move the derailleur at home to the big or small ring.

People have done that with Shimano rear derailleurs to have a two speed setup. I don't know of any front derailleur with a built in barrel adjusters, though.
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Old 07-21-15, 10:17 PM
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Originally Posted by RubeRad
I think I get your original point, but in what way do you expect a tool to perform better than just using a stick, or just using a paper towel to grab the chain with your hand?
I'm basically looking for an unmounted device for switching chainrings. I don't know what exactly a good tool for this purpose might look like or how it might work.

Sticks, paper towels, gloves, 'O' ring hook/hose remover, popsickle sticks. Quite a few ideas, and definitely not as expensive as purchasing a presently unneeded FD.

Not to say that the alternative solutions aren't useful. Some neat ideas here: downtube shifters, seat tube shifters, modified FD, FD with barrel adjuster, suicide shifter etc. I didn't know that there were so many possibilities. If I decide to mount a FD I'll give all of these a thought.
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Old 07-21-15, 10:46 PM
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The "greasy finger" method was preferred by some in the early days, before front derailleurs had really evolved. One could just knock the chain from the big ring to the small ring with one's foot, at least. [source: "The Dancing Chain"]
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Old 07-22-15, 08:31 AM
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Buddy of mine wanted lower gearing specifically for hill climbs, so we mounted a granny gear on his formerly 1x crank. Easy enough to just detension the RD and move the chain by hand.

Maybe you're going at this the wrong way -- instead of a tool, consider convenient greasy hands clean up method:

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Old 07-22-15, 08:47 AM
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We should all get-with-it. All the OP really wants is attention.
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Old 07-22-15, 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by 79pmooney
When an OP asks a simple question , why do I nearly always see forumites asking why do they want to to do that? and why don't they do it this way (suggesting specifically what the poster has said he does not want to do).

It's a given that will be seen here. I see forumites who have taken it upon themselves to be "the judge", laying out what is right and acceptable and what is wrong, different or not acceptable. Does this help them? It is usually little help to the people they seem to think they are helping.

I am far from perfect, but I try to answer the OP's questions as best I can or keep quiet and move on to another thread. I try to not say the OP is wrong for asking a question. I would hope that if I were to ask a question here that is out of the norm, I would get the same help I try to offer.

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Because we need to know the whole story to offer good advice. If someone asks, "what's the best way to collect the water that's dripping from my ceiling?" The answer isn't "buckets." It's, "fix the darn roof!"

People often come up with some crazy solution to fix their problem. But when we know what someone is trying to achieve, what the real problem is, we can often offer a solution that's much simpler than what they were trying to do.

See this thread as an example. The OP wanted to put a BB30 crankset on a MTB when that really had nothing to do with the actual problem: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...005-model.html

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Old 07-22-15, 09:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Shahmatt
Just to be clear (for some who seem to have missed the point).

A FD is useful for shifting on the move. As it is I don't really need a FD as I can predict what chainring I would need before starting out.

So just being able to shift once before I start is good enough. Well, at least for the forseeable future.

I'm just looking for a tool to do this more easily. Maybe that 'O' ring hook is the way to go.
Ok, we should cease trying to convince you to do something you clearly don't want like a front derailleur.

If that's all you want then go down to the hardware store or a sewing/knitting supply and find something with a short hook on the end like those shown above. Even a 3" flat blade screwdriver will push the chain over as you turn the pedals. It will have to be small enough to store in a saddle bag along with a rag to wipe it off.

Last edited by Delmarva; 07-22-15 at 09:33 AM.
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Old 07-22-15, 10:00 AM
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An example of a rider who used the greasy finger 2 chainring shifting , just fine ..

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Old 07-22-15, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by RubeRad
I can't find it right now, but I remember reading once (I think Sheldon Brown?) about a 2x2 "fixed" drivetrain carefully designed to have the same wrap,
Rivendell used to have a bike like this - the Quickbeam - it had track ends, a flip-flop hub, and a two-ring crank. I don't think it ever got very popular but I saw Grant himself riding it once on Mount Diablo - he got to the top of the climb and got off and changed to the downhill gears by flipping the wheel and manual redistribution of the chain.

Anyway - as for a tool, I recommend a piece of wire clothes hanger bent into an appropriate shape.
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Old 07-22-15, 11:21 AM
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Originally Posted by DiabloScott
Rivendell used to have a bike like this - the Quickbeam - it had track ends, a flip-flop hub, and a two-ring crank. I don't think it ever got very popular but I saw Grant himself riding it once on Mount Diablo - he got to the top of the climb and got off and changed to the downhill gears by flipping the wheel and manual redistribution of the chain.
Very interesting, google took me to Sheldon Brown's Quickbeam. Chainrings of 40/32 (I was surprised at such a large difference -- must use the extremes of the track ends), and SB gained himself a third gear by leaving the provided 18t on the flipside, and switching the flopside to a 14t (which he can only use with the 40, 32/14 would require shortening the chain -- but a 32/14 would be fairly close to 40/18 anyways).

I especially like how he highlighted the lugs by painting white outlines -- with white-out!
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