Success, sort of:

Bike 1: Novara Randonee, 7 speed RSX, triple front. The bike came with a Shimano 105 FD. I finally pulled the only other triple FD I had in hand, a SORA unit, and did a swap. Instant success, no more problems. Not sure what was wrong with that 105 triple FD, but the SORA works great.

Bike 2: 1989 Cannondale R400, came with 8 speed Shimano 105, double front (yes, I know this is not original, bike was a mess of misc parts). Since changing the FD on the Novara worked so well, I decided to do a swap on the Cannondale as well. So I pulled off the Shimano 105 FD, and replaced it with the only double brazeon FD I had in hand, a RX100. Instant success. I ended up pulling off the eight speed rear off the Cannondale, it was really jammed in, a very tight fit, on a late 80s Cannondale, and put in a seven speed rear instead. Right now I am keeping the 8 speed Shimano 105 brifters, limited out the rear, seems to be shifting great.

Bike 3 and 4: Quintana Roo (9 speed DA) and 1987 Schwinn Prologue (9 speed DA): Front brifters definitely not working. So I pulled a Tiagra front brifter I had in hand, instant success. I am giving the DA front STI the full WD40 treatment, as a last ditch effort to revive it. We'll see how it goes. I have a couple of other single front brifters, they won't match, but they will get the Prologue back on the road. Hopefully at least one of the 2 DA units comes around.


So far, the lesson for me is if I have other derailleurs available, make a swap there. Its a lot quicker swapping FDs, maybe 15 minutes, versus the hours spent trying to get the bike to work. For whatever reason that I have not figured out yet, the rear shifting has been much less tempermental.