Originally Posted by
Al1943
No, actually for a 32 you need a mountain type derailleur. A long cage road derailleur is rated for a maximum of 27 teeth, although a road derailleur will usually work with up to 30 teeth on the largest cog.
A mountain derailleur will work with a 34. (see AEO's last post above).
That figures. This old Peugeot road bike is something of a franken-bike. The previous owner put a triple mt. crank (removing the inner ring) on a road bike (japanese on a french spindle so it wobbles!). And he put a big honking Shimano freewheel (12-32). He also replaced the derailleur with an old Shimano SIS, whereas should have installed the mountain variety.
At any rate, I finally got it to shift today, but had to replace the rear wheel (I had one with a smaller freewheel), and then had to replace the cable, then clean, lube and adjust the derailleur. It's all working fine now.