zeeway

I have owned my 2014 Trek Madone 2.5 for about six months, and for my riding level it is an excellent bike. The front shifting was getting troublesome, so I did my usual you-tube research and was ready to go. So I reached for the barrel adjuster to back off the cable tension...and I kept on reaching. You smart guys apparently already know that most road bikes do not have barrel adjusters on the FD. Well, I did muddle through the adjustment, but it was not fun to try to fine adjust the cable tension using the cable clamp bolt.

My further searching has revealed that it is possible to install an in line adjuster. But here's my question...why on earth is there no FD barrel adjuster built in to the design of most road bikes?

AlexCyclistRoch

On most road bikes, there ain't a lot of space for an adjuster.

CliffordK

Some bikes put the inline adjusters at the first cable stop.

Due to cable routing, almost no bikes have used cable stops at the derailleurs for the last 30 years or so.

I'm a little surprised Shimano didn't add inline adjusters to their early brifters, but it isn't practical for the shifters with aero routing.

That just leaves the inline barrel adjusters, or manual adjusting with cable tension.

trailflow1

Some aluminium, almost all steel and the older carbon frames have threaded cable adjusters on the downtube. When carbon frames gained popularity and became mainsteam, i guess to simplify the production of the frames and minimise the warranty returns for cross threaded adjusters or debonded/sheared rivets etc, it was just easier to opt for a simple integrated cable stop and use an external inline adjuster. And that became the norm for a while so other manufacturers followed suit.

The latest Shimano r9100 Dura Ace FD has a new design and a new cable tension adjuster built in.

andr0id

It's a pain. You can create some tension by pushing in on the FD cage and pulling the cable snug before tightening the pinch bolt lightly, then let it slide out to open position and finish tightening the bolt.

HillRider

I've never seen any front derailleur with a barrel adjuster. As mentioned there isn't really room on the derailleur itself and early (and current) friction front shifters didn't need one.

Most metal bike frames come with threaded barrel adjusters on the downtube or have downtube shifter bosses that accept bolt-on cable stops with barrel adjusters. If your frame doesn't have them, in-line adjusters are your only solution.

cyccommute 

I can't think of a bike that doesn't have a cable stop on the downtube. It it has a cable stop and isn't threaded for a cable adjuster there are any number of solutions to installing one. These can be used either at the cable stop. These will work too. The Mickey works too.

And there are a number of inline adjusters, although I find those to be less effective then ones that go in the cable stop.

HillRider

Oh yeah, all frames, except maybe those dedicated to Di2 and similar electronic groups or have internal cable routing, do indeed have cable stops. However on many carbon frames they aren't threaded for barrel adjusters and that's what I was concerned about.

bulldog1935

you can also close the travel limit, tighten the cable, then open back the travel limit

fietsbob

As Said... the friction shift, The Hand was the fine trim.

Now for Preset Index the barrel adjusters are on the frame Or in MTB , on the Shift/brake lever

Fitting some inline, on your housing, is a DIY option..

corrado33

This is what I generally do if I don't have a 3rd hand tool handy.

well biked

The next generation mechanical Dura Ace FD (9100 group), available soon, has an integrated barrel adjuster on the derailleur.

HillRider

On the front derailleur?

well biked

Yes. Interestingly. the rear derailleur will be a Shadow derailleur. Hope they haven't removed the adjuster from the RD like on mtb Shadow RD's. But the front derailleur will have an integrated "cable tension adjuster."

edit: just checked an image of the 9100 RD...still has a barrel adjuster.

stevoo

Since you mentioned the new DA FD I am really hoping it has resolved the previos years challenged geometry that had the cable pulling nearly straight down through the pivot points when located in the small ring innermost position.

Dunbar

The mountain bike (trigger) shifters have a barrel adjuster on the shifter so I'm glad they aren't removing the adjuster from the new road group RD's. That would force internal cable routed bikes to run an inline barrel adjuster.

well biked

And that's why, I suspect, that Shimano has added the integrated cable tension adjuster to the new DA FD. So many road bikes these days come with internal cable routing (aluminum bikes included), and you're stuck with an inline adjuster as the only way to adjust tension on the FD cable. The integrated adjuster will be a good thing IMO.

02Giant 

The current DA 9000 requires one on the front derailleur if you want to get anywhere close to the cable tension required.

cyclist2000

When Shimano brifters had the cables coming out the side of the brifter there were cable adjusters on the side of the shifters.

Camilo

The most recent road bike (frame/fork) I bought about 5 years ago had adjusters at the downtube cable stops. I haven't bought nor shopped for a new bike at all, but I'm surprised that there are bikes that don't have them. You can easily buy and add those.

[edit] I just realized that a lot of current model bikes have internal cabling - something I haven't "graduated" to yet.

In the days of exposed shifter cables coming out of the levers, a lot of bikes (most?) had inline cable adjusters.

HillRider

Road brifters didn't come that way from Shimano and if you saw them, the owner had added them afterward. Shimano relied on barrel adjusters on their cable stops that bolted on over downtube bosses or were built into the frame.

SkyDog75

I've got two bikes in the garage whose Shimano brifters have side-exit shift cabling. The levers do not have barrel adjusters.

One of those two bikes, an '86 Trek 300 Elance, also has no brazed-on shifter bosses or cable stops. I need to use clamped-on stops, which don't support a barrel adjuster, so I installed an inline adjuster.

As for the original question -- why front derailleurs don't have barrel adjusters -- it might have something to do with the fact that cable housings aren't typically run all the way to the front derailleur anymore. With only bare cable running to the derailleur, how would a barrel adjuster work?

WizardOfBoz

I'm still trying to figure out what the "converter" does. To those that don't know, it's a washer with two prongs that engage one of two bosses. That moves the washer a bit, but I can't figure out what it does in terms of function.

Anyone?

revchuck 

At the LBS I work in, we've been installing in-line FD adjusters on 11-speed bikes as SOP for this reason.

cyclist2000

Thanks for the correction, Im surprised that the LBS would have added anything to the bike, is it possible it was done by the manufacturer?