FIVE ONE SIX

ok, so a week ago i noticed the 6800 front derailleur on my 2015 Cannondale EVO wasn't trimming. my mechanic looked at it and noticed that some of my drink must have leaked out of the drink valve and got on the front derailleur because he saw the dried drops and noticed that it felt sticky from the drink. when i asked him about why it wasn't trimming, he said it was most likely because the sticky drink must have dried on some of the moving parts of the derailleur and that the only way to get it to work the correct way it did before was to try to get a small brush and use either rubbing alcohol or water and dish soap. so i used the rubbing alcohol spray and old toothbrush last night and got the trim working, but only when the chain's in the small ring. now when the chain's in the small ring, i have to push the level past the click point for it to trim, and when it trims it looks like the derailleur moves further to the left and right than it used to before the problem. and when the chain is in the big ring and i try to trim the derailleur, it moves a hair both ways, like maybe 1mm or so...

so my first question is that considering that there were no adjustments made to the derailleur at all, why would it trim more that it used to in the little ring and a lot less than it used to in the big ring?! my second question is there any way to adjust the amount of trim the derailleur moves, as far as right and left, with either a screw movement or cable tightness?!

the only thing i have no idea how to adjust on a road bike is the front and rear derailleur, so if it sounds like i don't know what i'm talking about as far as adjustment on the front derailleur go, it's because i don't. i'm only asking for help on here cause i was told that they only real way to fix it when something like this happens as far as the trim goes is to try to clean it more or to just outright replace it, and i don't want to replace it if i don't have to considering it's less than a year old...

rmfnla

Alcohol is a terrific de-greaser; did you lubricate the FD after cleaning?

This may not be what is wrong but Troubleshooting 101 says start with the easy stuff first, and a few drops of oil is about as easy as it gets...

andr0id

Adjusting the new Shimano 4 position FD is different from previous generations. Get the FD-6800 Dealer's Manual online pdf and follow the steps in the exact order they are written. (use your existing cable bolt position).

You adjust the upper trim (big/big) using your barrel nut cable adjuster. If you don't have one, get one.

Yeah, sweating and spilling drinks on FDs gums them up. The best way to really get them cleaned up is to take it off the bike, clean it with soapy water while working it back and forth, dry it out with WD-40 and then lube it with CLP or triflow. You need to loosen the stop all the way out and work it back and forth to get it moving freely again. If it won't, toss it.

trailflow1

Its highly unlikely you will need to toss it. Because the 6800 FD wont be all that old. Generally FD's last many many years.

If its sticking, a squirt of lube (WD40 GT85 or equivalent) or a few drop of oil on the pivots will loosen it up.

The screws on the FD are called limit screws and they do exactly that. Limit the amount of travel the derailleur cage can move at each side of the inner and outer chainring. They are not for adjusting the trim,that is done with the cable tension.

The easiest way of adjusting the FD cable tension is with an inline barrel adjuster or inline frame adjuster. the 6800 FD's really need one to get the cable tension right. Install one if you dont have one.

The trim function's operation is determined by the shifter mechanism. So lubing the shifters internals may also help.

Its also worth lubing the bottom bracket cable guide.

This is a good tutorial video to help set up the 5800,6800,9000 FD's


There are a number of possible reasons why it went out of adjustment

1. the limit screws were miss-adjusted
2. bumps,knocks and road vibrations may have loosened the limit screws
3. the cable bolt wasn't clamped tight enough and the cable has slipped
4. the frame attaching bolt may have loosened and the FD has moved
5. the cables and outers have bedded in over time

All of these things will effect the cable tension which will effect the trim.

FIVE ONE SIX

ok, so after all of this info and watching the video a few times (which was great, thanks for posting the link!) this is the end result. i lubed the hell out of all of the moving mechanisms on the derailleur, including the plastic part on the bottom bracket that separates the front and rear derailleur cables. i adjusted the top and bottom limit screw exactly how it showed to and i adjusted the top trim exactly how the video showed to. i do have one problem and a few questions though...

it doesn't show how to adjust bottom trim, and i currently have no bottom trim. the lever clicks, but the derailleur doesn't really move at all, but from what i've seen i know i had bottom trim on my bike at some point. so how would i go about setting or adjusting that, cause i couldn't find any videos on youtube about how to set something like that...

because of the above problem, i had to set the limit screw so the derailleur is a little closer to the chain than it should be in the rear big ring cause if i don't then the chain rubs the front derailleur when i'm in the 34-12, which is what i sometimes use for a cruising gearset. i'm sure this wouldn't be the case if i had some trim in the little ring, but right now i have none so i have to deal with that, and the chain rubs if i put it in the 34-11 (which i know i shouldn't use, but when i had trim in the little ring it still didn't rub in that gear combo.)

trdsupragt

I was having a very similar problem with my 2015 Cannondale Synapse 3 Ultegra. When I received it and assembled it, I right away started noticing that I had a lot of difficulty shifting the FD. I would have to push the lever with an insane amount of force just to get the FD to move. That tall arm Shimano decided to get fancy with didn't seem to help things very much. I talked to Cannondale, and they said I might have my cables crossed inside the frame. So I recabled the FD with the RD cable totally out of the frame. I lubed underneath the BB with shimano cable grease, used new cables, lubed any place I thought might have helped. But I was still having issues.

I next examined the cable pinch bolt several times and noticed that the angled that the cable came into the FD was nearly parallel to each other. In those circumstances, shifting would take a lot of effort to get the cable to finally pull the FD arm downward in order to shift to the big ring. On top of that, I was also having trim issues as well. I couldn't trim going up, but I could trim going down (after shifting up completely).

Then it finally hit me one day that it might have just been a chainline issue (because the cable angle coming out of the frame). I started looking into BB30 spacers to see if pushing the crank out just a little bit might help the situation. I went back to look at my bike and saw that on the non drive side, there was a wavy spacer sitting where Cannondale had originally placed it!! So I removed my crank, brought the spacer over to the drive side, and set up the FD like I normally would, and BAM! My problems practically disappeared. I was able to trim, as well as shift up to the large ring without an excessive amount of effort.

So in any case, being that my problem might be slightly different from yours, it may or may not help. But I'm leaning towards "may help" on the fact that we're both running Cannondales (2015 for that matter), and we both run Ultegra 6800. However, it might be worth me noting that I have a BB30A frame, and an FSA SL-K Light crankset.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to include with I was looking at, in case it might give you some ideas as far as what to look at.

trailflow1

OK try this. It slightly differs from the video tutorial above but it should get the low trim to work better. First try jumping to step no.7 and try that first.

1. Start over. undo the cable from the FD, and then wind the barrel adjuster fully in.

2. Then screw the High limit screw outwards a few turns. but not so much it falls out.

When clamping the front derailleur to the frame make sure the gap between the big chainring teeth and front derailleur cage is around 1 to 3mm.

Toe the rear of the cage in slightly (around 3-5mm) when clamping. Then use the support bolt to align the bottom of the cage with the flat part of the outer big chainring. The support bolt is a small screw that pushes up against the seat tube to add stiffness to the front derailleur when shifting. It also moves the FD cage outwards as you screw it in. See page 8 of the pdf below
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... 24&cad=rja

So first , with the cable de-attached. Put the chain on the small front ring and 25t (or biggest) back cog.

3. Adjust the Low limit screw (closest to the frame on the front derailleur) so the gap is 0.5mm from the chain and the front derailleur's plastic plate,and not rubbing on the chain.

Make sure to down click the left shift lever into its lowest position. Press the small lever 4 times

4. Clamp the cable (pull the cable tight with pliers and clamp). Then shift the chain onto the 11t cog (or smallest) at the back, and shift the front onto the big ring. (if it doesnt shift up - add more tension by loosening the bolt and pulling more cable ,then re-tighten the bolt). Now when in the big ring there should now be some chain rubbing on the cage if you spin the cranks.

(If the High limit screw is in too much it may also prevent the FD from shifting up - this is why you screw it out at the beginning.)

5. Now wind the inline barrel adjuster outwards (adding more cable tension) until there is a 0.5mm gap between the outer cage and chain, and no chain rub. Look down at the front derailleur cage as you do it, and spin the crank until the rubbing stops.

6. Then wind the High limit screw in until it just touches the stop.

7. Next shift the front down onto the small ring and keep the rear on the 11t (or smallest) cog. Then click into the front small ring trim position with the left big lever. now whilst in the trim position,add a little bit more tension with the barrel adjuster, until there is also no chain rub. This should eliminate any slop in the trim and make it feel more positive to click.

Now it should all be set. Check all gears and trim settings. Make sure the chain isnt being thrown over off the big ring.

If you find the shifting or the small ring trim click isnt very positive. Start over and try the second cable routing tab position. (remember to wind the barrel adjuster in again before starting.)

There may be some be rub in the big/big combo. This is cross chaining. Depending on your chainline, chainstay length, the number of teeth on your big chainring, you may be able to get the full spread of gears.