Originally Posted by
Cyclesafe
In my experience, the Ultegra 10 speed
FD is too long to work acceptably with a "touring" crankset. I haven't tried a Tiagra 10 speed FD, but I would have my doubts. The XT FD doesn't work with the Ultegra 10 speed shifters either.
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers-front.html
I haven't heard whether the IRD Alpina-d front der works with the Ultegra 10 speed. If so, then the new 10 speed MTB cassettes would
indeed give tourers new (modern?) STI options.
I run tiagra fd when using a mountain/trekking crank. I believe you are spot on about running ultegra with a mountain crank cycle safe. I was just pointing out that it can be done and that it can work well if done with the right combination of parts.