Supertick

I have had a Trek 790 (92 model year) hybred frame in my garage for some time now and decided to build it up with spare parts. I used cranks from an old mountain bike with 42-32-22 chainrings. I used an old model 105 FD with it. The shift into the 42 was very hard to do. Not that the Fd would not make it but the pressure required on the shifter (old grip shift) was tremendous. I changed the FD to an even older Exage Country FD and it worked very smooth. I tried to locate the problem with the 105 and it seemed ok. Any ideas? By the way, I used an Exage Country RD and it worked very well too. The specs on the Trek 790 appear to be similar to the Surly LHT except it is 1 inch shorter on the chainstays. Hum..

DMF 

105 triple FD? Or double FD? Look for the part number on the back of the FD.

Supertick

Thank you for the reply. The 105 is number FD-5503 and it is for a triple.

onbike 1939

I would imagine you have checked if the Higher Limit screw is opened out enough?

Supertick

I finally figured it out. I was putting the cable on the outside of the set screw instead of on the inside. Don't know why this made such a difference but it did. Thanks to those who tried to help. Rich

onbike 1939

It makes a difference as you are effectively reducing the length of the lever from the pivot and thus lessening the amount of cable pull.