etherhuffer 

Trouble with the last piece of this restomod .. Sora 3x7 brifters. Sugino triple crank. RSX front derailleur, 28.6. I can't seem to get the derailleur outboard enough. I can manually push it there, but not with the shifter. Also, it seems to set inboard of where it should be when set to my largest chainring. Not staying centered outboard. I am pretty sure that cable is fully tight. Maybe hold the cage full outboard and then tug the cable tight? Any help appreciated.

alcjphil

What crankset are you using? This information is needed. Cranksets for mountain bikes have a different chainline than road cranks

etherhuffer 

Sugino XD triple. I had the same set up with my touring bike save for the the different tube size RSX unit. I bought a 28.6 for this bike as the old setup worked well.

ShannonM

What's your bottom bracket spindle? It's not directly applicable to your setup, but when I built the 45/42/30 half-step triple on my road bike, I needed to use a 118 bpttpm bracket in place of the 122.5 that Shimano specs for the Deore MT-60 crank I used. With the 122.5, I was having exactly this problem. Granted, I was using a Suntour road double front derailleur, (because of the half-step,) and Rivendell Silver downtube shifters, but the symptoms were exactly the same. I could shift to the big ring by hand, but not by lever. It drove me nuts until I tried the smaller bottom bracket.

If your previous bike had a thicker seat tube, (which it almost would have had to, unless it was French... or a Rigi,) that would push the FD out a bit farther, maybe just enough to make that one work and this one not.

Just a thought...

--Shannon

Bill Kapaun

Sounds like you BB spindle is too long, else your H screw on the FDER isn't backed out enough.

Is the RSX FDER designed to shift a mountain triple with "road" shifters?

maddog34

Does the Derailleur cable clamp have a Tab on it? on many of the older design ders, the cable needs to run outboard of that tab, then point in the opposite direction it comes to the der arm, or the pull ratio is changed... the derailleur will move less for each move of the shifter...

and i'd start by checking the spindle length of the bottom bracket , just as a few others have said.
Can you post a pic of the crank from directly above? i'd want to see the relation of the chainrings to the frame and chainstay tubes... And are the pedal ends of the arms at equal distance from the chainstays? I slip the Non drive side arm on POINTING IN THE SAME DIRECTION as the Drive side to check this, or you can measure it..They will suck in a 1/4" or so when tightened in their proper riding orientation......

a pic of your cable routing at the der, showing the cable and clamp nut area, would help too..

RSX is a road group, and so is Sora... They should work fine when correctly done... try this.. Set shifter to fully extend the cable, low gear..... set any cable tension adjusters in the cable path to 1.5 to 2 full turns out from seated... Then Set the Low Limit Screw 1 full turn in from correct low limit setting.. THEN Tug the Cable Tight at the Der... Tighten the clamp nut.. then reset the Low limit screw to it's correct setting. Test the front shifting.

Older Cranksets have THREE distinct Depths at the Taper.. most old triples are the "deep" style.. the taper begins well outboard of the frame,.. to look at it, the taper's face is nearly aligned with the Middle Chainring....Some appear in line with the Small chainring, whenviewed from above..... and a few are "outies" and protrude out between the frame and small ring.
Each style requires a different BB spindle length to fit a particular bike.

And then..there are Offset Bottom bracket spindle lengths... sigh.....

maddog34

is this like yours? Sugino XD2 Crankset... https://www.ebay.com/itm/30493087372...d2c9604366569c

the taper's inner face is in line with the low gear, inner chainring. i'd try a 113mm spindle length, then a 118.5...Check the arm offsets to the chain stay tubes if the spindle is removable... you want the arms fairly equa-distant from the chain stays... and i like to see a 1/2" to 3/8" clearance from the stay for breathing room... 1/4" is considered minimum clearance.. frames do flex.. especially when stomping up a hill...

etherhuffer 

Thanks everyone for comments. Here are the pictures. I measure a 45mm chainline to the center ring. Sorry for pic with derailleur off, pulled it late yesterday

Will look for tab on derailleur in a few


Sugino triple

crank is pretty well in, I measure 45mm chainline

Bill Kapaun

Have you considered trying it with the FDER parallel to the rings like most bikes?

etherhuffer 

Ha ha! The bike has Velo Orange Diagonale rims so I wanted a diagonal FD to match!

mpetry912 

Thanks for sending a pic.

maybe it would help if the FD was clamped onto the seat tube and the cable secured under the clamping bolt ?

/markp

etherhuffer 

Not you too! Yes, going to try again on this one.

etherhuffer 

Also, I forgot to mention there is no bottom bracket cable guide. I had to run a piece of housing from downtube around the bottom bracket. I did the same with another bike that was a friction set up and worked ok

mpetry912 

Sorry @OP.

bolt the clamp on there and just run the cable around the bottom of the BB. no need for housing, just run it around there

put the cage 3-5 mm above the big ring and parallel / in plane with the outer ring.

put the derailleur in the "low" (small ring) position and clamp the cable.

/markp

KCT1986

Using a piece of housing under the BB is OK if you prefer to prevent the cable dragging on the paint. Just be sure to size it properly so the clamp area can rotate down fully. This could be what is causing the issue.

The proper cable tension for this FD with a triple crank is when in the middle ring and largest (innermost) sprocket, the inner cage just clears the chain.

The 45mm chainline should be fine for this FD as well as the chainring size. The stock crank for this RSX FD had a 46T large ring.

etherhuffer 

Middle chainring for tension? I would think that having good tension at smallest chainring position (shifter set to smallest ring, most 'loose' position ) would be where I pull on cable and lock down derailleur bolt. Or am I misunderstanding this. Thanks for the help!

etherhuffer 

Set it up again. no clearance issue around bottom bracket, but still no pull up to big ring, still sits inboard when shifter up. And the shifter is NOS but crunchy. I think I may have a shifter issue on this

KCT1986

The cable should be attached with the FD & shifter in the smallest ring position. The proper cable tension for index shifting is then set with the middle ring position for the FD/shifter while in the largest sprocket. This should sync the shifter with the FD and give you a reasonable amount of usable gear combos in each chainring positions. You may still experience some 'chainrub' in the extreme 'crosschain' positions.

curbtender

RX100 for sale here...
FS: Cranksets

etherhuffer 

Just shoot me....
OK, this one is a pure idiocy move on my part I think. This was an old purchase from eBay, been in a box forever. I noted that on my other bikes, the top of the shifter says Triple. Not this one. Says ST 3300 on the unit but it looks like I got shipped a double L shifter, not a triple. Pure Homer Simpson on my part. I have an old Triple from a teardown I can use until I find a deal on NOS somewhere. Some guy on eBay in Deutschland has some L triples, but look to be absent the hood, just the mechanism.


Not my day.....

KCT1986

Oops, bummer!

If you can get just the 3X mechanism, it may fit on the plastic bracket of the double unit. Don't know if there are any differences between each bracket, may only be the model # stamping. You'll need to test to confirm.

Replacing the shift mechanism is relatively simple. If you haven't done it before, the only tricky part is getting it together with the brake return spring in the correct position. Someone on here can easily talk you through it and a 'makeshift' tool to make it easier. You don't seem to have the cabling for FlightDeck so that makes it even simpler.

etherhuffer 

I took my old triple from other bike and cleaned it up. Did a flush out and relubed it. Seems fine. I can get a new old stock unit when one pops up again.

Nice and clean and smooth

KCT1986

These older brifters tend to be prone to hardening Shimano grease issues. Monitor and flush as needed. Some people get stuck shifters, and force the small lever & break the plastic paddle tips.

etherhuffer 

A lot of brown juice exited this one, but it ran clear then I added TriFlow. Seems pretty smooth.
Today's fun is tossing all my caged bearings with peanut butter looking grease into some mineral spirits. After too many donor bikes, I have lots of old chunky stuff that looks ok but needs cleanup.

etherhuffer 

Well, now a new issue, FD still won't reach. I am looking at bottom bracket and I think I am out of room on the crank where it goes to bottom bracket. The Sugino seems to set too far inboard in the center. Looking at my spare RSX triple, the mounting point is more outboard. Pics show this. I am on a 110BB for the Sugino, their choice for road. The RSX is 113-118 and Sheldon says maybe as low as 107 on his site. Tight squeeze on this

You can see there is little room left here. maybe a few mm, but not enough before it hits the teeth on the BB


RSX is more recessed in the center of the crank and thus moving my rings inward