Today my front derailleur broke on my 6 year old Bruce Gorden Touring bike. it is a Shimano FD t661. It appears that they no longer make this derailleur. My cranks are Shimano Deore M590 9 Speed Triple. The rings are 44, 32, 22. I ride up a 33% grade everyday to get home from work. The hills are insane in Seoul.

Can you recommend a replacement derailleur? It seems that most of the derailleurs are for 10 speeds. Can I get away with a 10 speed front derailleur? I have a phil Woods 9 speed hub on the back and bar end friction snifters in the front. Should I just put a 10 speed cassette on the back? It also seems that the maximum capacity for most of the new derailleurs is 18 T.

I should add that it is a clamp on Derailleur. My tube size is about 28.8 mm. The size of the old derailleur is 28.6.

You can still find 9 speed fronts like the Shimano XT 591

Shimano Deore M591 Conventional 9sp Front Mech | Chain Reaction Cycles

You can also use 10 speed as it will work just fine. You may just have to fine tune it a little more while riding. I have used 10 speed fronts on 9 speed drive trains and had absolutely no problems what's so ever.

I'd drop in at your local bike co-op or bike recycler and check. Seems to me there is always a Deore or Deore LX front derailleur in the bins. It's the only way you'll find a 28.6 derailleur and it will likely cost you $5. I just came home with 5 different front derailleurs on the weekend.

Really 33%? We have a climb around here that is supposed to be 22% and the car tires are chirping as they loose traction going up it.

Shimano (in their 9 speed world) has designed their ft ders into drop bar shifter and flat bar shifter spec families with a couple flat bar shifters being made for otherwise drop bar ders. So knowing what shifter spec you have is part of the replacement spec data. I suspect you have a AtB/flat bar shifter as that is also your crankset.


There are small differences of crank set ring to ring dimensions between road and AtB as well as small differences to the ft der's throw per same amount of cable pull. This is why so many recent 9 speed and triple touring bikes have come with bar end shifters, as the ft is a friction (not indexed) control. Andy.

Yes, really 33%. I know it is hard to believe, and I understand your doubt. I would probably doubt it too. The street is graded concrete to help cars tires grip. Nevertheless, I have seen cars and motorcycles fail to make it up. spinning tires are common on this hill. The hardest part about making it up the hill is keeping my front tire on the ground. My butt is forward of the saddle. I have to essentially keep my butt on the nose of the saddle. I need to keep my head just above the handle bars. One time I lifted my head slightly just before the end of the hill and my and I did a backwards somersault. If I knew how to post the video I would.

I would love to go to a bike co-op or even a bike shop where I could communicate with the shop workers. As I said, I am stationed in Seoul. While I know a few Korean words, I don't know enough to have this conversation in Korean. The internet is my only source of information.

Thank you for your reply. I have Shimano bar end shifters. They are friction shifters.

Thank you. I just ordered the one you linked. I won't know if it works for a few weeks until it gets here. Until then I will ride in the middle ring and walk up the hill.