HardyWeinberg

For no apparent reason my front derailer, yesterday, started dragging on the outer chainring when I shift to the middle one. Will fiddling with the limit adjuster screws fix this?

My outer chainring is bent so it only grabs intermittently as I pedal. I suppose the drag just starting yesterday could mean that the bend is getting worse, but it hasn't had any new traumas to explain that. I do have a new chainring on order.

NoRacer

If, by dragging, you mean across the top of the teeth of the big chain ring, then it sounds like the whole FD has shifted downward. You may need to raise it back up. To do this, you may need to loosen the tension using the barrel adjuster first, then raise it so there's clearance, tighten it up, and then readjust the barrel for proper shifting through the chainrings.

fmw

There you go.

HardyWeinberg

I hadn't spotted it at first but yes the derailer was hitting the teeth.

The bolt that holds the chain-moving part of the derailer to the part w/ the adjuster screws was way loose, so I tightened that up a lot and tweaked the adjusters a bit and it seems to move among the 3 chainrings now w/ no real binding (some chain moving along the side of the derailer, need to take it for a spin to get a better sense of whether it's fixed).

Thanks.