roving,

I upload images off my phone to Picasa, which then makes it easy to right click, copy image url. The Picasa account is linked to my gmail which makes things easy.

Anyway, I appreciate your comments and attempts to stiffen this bike, which I think is a pretty good platform to start from.

Here is a pic of the derailleur adapter held against the frame in the approximate location it needs to be. I understand it is not very clear, but notice how the adapter is not sitting flat against the frame, due to interference with the large rear stay. The adapter cannot go lower on the tube in this area because of interference with the curved stiffener tube that is welded on the backside of this tube.

Because of this, I think the only way to add a front derailleur would be to either modify this adapter bracket to make the vertical part that attaches the derailleur approximately half the current height; or attach this bracket very low near the bottom bracket and then use a top swing derailleur. This bracket would still need to be modified to attach down near the bottom bracket.



Regarding cable management, there is a built-in cable stop in the bottom of this bracket, so it's obviously meant for a bottom pull derailleur. So you can run your cable straight to this bracket- easy (no pulleys, etc).