Originally Posted by
clasher
SHIMANO FD-R443 is apparently for flat bar triples. I imagine there's an fd-r773 out there as well.
FD-R443 works better when the top two chainrings are about 10 teeth apart, as in 42-52. The newer FD-R453 is set up for a wider spread, such as a 39-53.
And thanks to Hilly and OneSpeed for thwacking me upside the head with Dynasys. Sheesh.
FWIW: here's the two bikes I mentioned earlier. Both have FD-R443 front derailleurs and 9-speed rears. My bike has the "flat-bar" shifters while my wife's has Deore LX.
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/jeff-grr/index.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/diane-grr/index.htm