Hello all,

I upgraded my new Surly 1 x 9 to a 3 x 9. The new front derailleur leaves less clearance for the removal of the rear wheel, so I removed the dropout adjusters and fully seated the wheel in the dropout slot. Everything works great except that when I now downshift (to a larger cog) I need to press slightly more than a click to smoothly shift. If I don't, it takes a couple of revolutions to shift into the gear. Up shifts are smooth and crisp. Front shifts are flawless too.

Is it that the SRAM x-5 derailleur position is too far off? I tried to adjust the tension screw. It doesn't seem to matter.

This isn't a major issue, it's a tiny annoyance.

I looked at other new Surly's, and they use front derailleurs that allow more clearance. I can't find any alternative 9 speed, 48 tooth, bottom pull, 28.6mm 3 position new derailleurs other than the Shimano M590 that I bought.

Loosen the tension screw.

Fully seating the wheel may have raised the cassette, you may need to screw out the b screw a bit.

Could it just be that your indexing is slightly out of alignment? What if you unscrew the barrel adjuster a tiny bit on your shift cable?

Thank you! I realized I tightened up the B screw to remove a bunch of chain slack. I instead, removed a couple of links and turned the screw out. That fixed the issue!

Thanks, but that was not the case.

Why would removing dropout adjusters improve clearance for removing the rear wheel?

Thought it was FD chain clearance. Re-read. Haven't a clue.

John