Collin2424

Greetings!

Was doing some fun wrenching today when I suddenly realized (actually, I think my brain blocks out these French "lessons" as I've run into this three or four times before) that my 28.6mm Cyclone derailleur was not going to clamp on my Le Champion frame. What do you guys do when you want to put a Japanese/Italian derailleur on a French frame? Best I came up with was electrical tape, but I don't like it one bit. While I don't think the derailleur will slide up or down, it does have a bit of wiggle room because no matter how tight you make it, the electrical tape is going to flex. Here's what I'm working with:





-Collin-

Grim

Could try some handle bar shims. They should flatten out (they are for 25.4 - 26mm) but will leave a gap.
https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...-0mm-1118.html

Collin2424

I think that would work, since it's a .6mm difference I'm dealing with.

Hate to have to order a part and wait for shipping, though

Maybe I will try the famed beer can approach?

-Collin-

rhm

Aluminum from soda or beer cans will work better than plastic tape. Aluminum foil would work fine, too; you'll need a few layers, though.

I recently shimmed a 1 1/4" derailleur to fit a 1 1/8" tube. I just made a shim out of 1/16" aluminum.

beech333

rubber? Possibly a piece of an innertube?

repechage

I would want something that could not compress.. .03 mm shim stock, which works out to just under .008" Time for some calipers and a set of tin snips.

Puget Pounder

I use the plastic rolls from velox rim strips and it works perfectly.

zukahn1 

A carefully cut section of a old road tire can also make a workable shim for a FD I have done this on several bikes at the local bike coop volunteering to make things work. My first choice however would be to find a nicer vintage Suntour FD that fits the frame the clamps on most of the AR's and VX's will work with french frames and these are very similar to the Cyclone.

Chombi

Hmmm...plastic on an old French bike,............for some reason that does not sound too unusual....

Chombi

Collin2424

Good suggestions. I'd really like to use the Cyclone for obvious reasons. Either way, I'm glad the electrical tape can go

-Collin-

zukahn1 

You can also find metal shim tape online or at a lot of hardware stores for about $10 for a short roll.

rootboy 

I just mounted a Campagnolo Record derailleur on a 71 Gitane, and somehow it worked. But what I do is apply a light coating of Plastidip to the inside of the clamp and let it dry thoroughly. It dries pretty hard and sort of protects the paint. A metal shim will certainly work too.

loose spoke

I'm confused here.. My Moto Grand Records came with Nuovo Record Campy front and rear and one now has a Suntour Superbe Pro on it with no fit problems. Also, my French Simplex fronts fit French, Japanese and US bikes without problem. What am I missing? I'll have to put a caliper on the frames and parts when I get home, but I've never had a fit problem with any of these combinations. I had always assumed the tubing was so close it was a non issue. OOPS.

Collin2424

I had a Motobecane Grand Jubile before this and it also had a Suntour Cyclone up front, but it had a built in metal shim. I peeled it off thinking "what the heck is this?" Then realized that the tubing was smaller on that frame than a normal 28.6mm frame. Maybe it varies from year to year?

-Collin-

Ex Pres 

The NRs and probably the Superbes were made with a 28.0 clamp as an option. Some of the Simplex & Huret models - with two bolts, one on each side of the clamp - seem to fit both 28.0 and 1 1/8".

Many of the French bikes switched over from metric to imperial tubing between about 1980 to 1983.

prettyshady

From the bikes I have aquired which have had this mod, most used bits of bar tape.

randyjawa 

You do not want to use a compressible material for a shim! The pop or beer can shim is perfect and will work just fine. I like to split the shim, gluing each half to the appropriate part of the derailleur. That way, it is easy to install and remove the derailleur without fear of missing or loosing the shim.

Again, shims should not be compressible even though I am sure lots of people have used tape, or rubber or some other material with positive results.

zukahn1 

Actualy there is a big difference the classic Suntour hinge clamp allows for about a 5mm differance maybe more same with the Simplex. A double bolt Suntour will fit on just about anything round. While the pecision clamp on the Mark II's where size specific suposedly to give better performance.

peazweag

I run shimano golden arrow FD on my motobecane fits fine.Beer can shim will do the trick though

realestvin7

Just put a French derailleur on the front.

Grand Bois

A NR FD is a tight fit on the frame at left, but it has a very thick clearcoat.

When it had its original paint, I replaced the clamp bolt with an allen head so I could crank it really tight.