Incompatible front derailers?
 

Long story short, I believe that a Campy Record Ergo front shifter is defective. It could shift an IRD compact front derailer from the low to middle position, but unable to hold the high (outside) position after shifted. The video below demonstrates.

http://tinyurl.com/8x2bf4

Notice that you hear the shifter ratching (clicks) when the derailer moves from low to middle and middle to high. But as the derailer slides back to the middle, you hear more clicks. As long as I provide physical force to the lever, the front derailer stays in the high position. Once I release it, it slides back to the middle position.

After a little trouble shooting, the techs at ProBikeKit agreed that it was defective and said I should send it back. They now claim that the shifter is fully functional ... although they didn't mention how they determined this ... and write that the shifter is incompatible with the front derailer. I find this extremely hard to believe.

I put on a set of Ultegra shifters and the front derailer works fine.

Thoughts?

EDIT: I did ask how they determined functionality. Twice. They still have yet to respond. But I did mention that if they simply tested it with a double, they would discover that it works fine ... I assume it would be like shifting from the low to middle. However the Campy shifters are supposed to work for both doubles and triples. Consequently they wouldn't discover the problem until shifting from middle to high.

BTW, has anyone ever heard of incompatibility issues with modern road front derailers and shifters? ... with ergo shifters in particular?

If the Shimano shifter works and the Campy doesn't I bet it's a cable pull problem. Also one of the bullets mentions:

•Shimano drop handlebar ("road") STI front shifters

I think you might be out of luck getting front derailer to work with Ergos.

+1 with jonsam... here is something i could not understand, the FD goes down by itself? I mean you pull all the way up and suddenly goes down to the middle? If thats the case no matter which fd you put in there, that should not happen.

Is this a quick shift? i have the regular ergo that basicly u just crank it up and down and no issues playing one day with a shimano fd.

Thanks for the reply.

Well ... perhaps; but I think it unlikely since it pulls the derailer over as demonstrated in the video and you can hear the ratcheting mechanism working and finally slipping.

Thanks for the reply Ultra.

Yep. You can hear the ratchet slipping on the way down.

Just to emphasize, as long as I put pressure on the lever, the front derailer stays in the high position. Once I take away the direct pressure on the lever -- i.e., I am not releasing the tension with the other lever -- the cable slips and the front derailer falls to the middle position.

The front derailer works fine with a Shimano Ultegra shifter.

Seriously, have you ever heard of a road FD being incompatible with another road shifter?

ProBikeKit is threatening me with extra fees. They are claiming that the shifter is fully functional but have not told me how they determined that.

Have you tried swapping your derailleur for a Campagnolo on their 'approved list?'

I have not tried the combination you have, but I have experienced a similar feeling with Shimano shifters. The shifters turned out to be alright but I was mal-adjusting the derailleur and just making it impossible for the ratchet mechanism to work. I can understand how a difference in cable pull can cause a similar problem.

haha ... I guess this is breaking the request to be ignored ... ;)

No. I didn't have a Campy FD handy. The limit screws were not a problem. What else about the front derailer adjustment would cause the slippage?

Sugggest setting the high limit screw to stop it from limiting the travel, and see if it affects the operation of the mechanism. If the mechanism then operates correctly, slacken the cable tension a fraction and reset the limit screw to prevent overshooting the big ring.

Oh ... I just checked through some recent e-mails, Tom Deakins at the Harris Cyclery apparently has Ergo 10-speed brifters with the IRD FD.

the new ultra-shift ergo levers will auto release when there's too much cable tension.

The problem is most likely due to too much force being applied to the cable and not the fault of the shifter. This can occur for two reasons.

(1) The FD is simply not compatible with the shifter. I would never use any other brand of FD with a Campy shifter, since Campy sells FDs to handle any double or triple crank normally used on a road bike.

(2) Even with a Campy FD, if you route the shift cable incorrectly, it will shorten the effective lever arm length and cause the same excessive cable tension. Some people have installed the cable incorrectly on the 2009 Campy FD and had the same problem that you describe. The cable must be routed over the small metal tab on the lever arm, then over the clamp bolt. It the cable is routed between the metal tab and guide bolt, you get the shorter lever arm length and the FD will not operate correctly.

Hey thanks for the replies.

Well that would make sense. Of course, I don't recall how I routed the cable ... however, I my name isn't spelled "God" so that type of mistake is plausible although I did go through the process more than once. So I would have had to make the same mistake in subsequent efforts.

The ProBikeKit guys just mentioned that Campy triples have a "very inboard design" making the argument that the Sugino crank/BB places the rings too far outward for the shifters to move the derailer.

Anyway, this sounds like a lesson learned.

P.S. BTW, I have a compact triple crank with 48/36/26 chainrings. That is why I went with the IRD FD. I seem to recall that when I looked at the Campy FD specs (triple) it was designed for bigger chainrings and the 48 big chainring was outside of specs. Is that not the case?