Shimano SLX mountain triple crankset on Surly LHT FD question
 

I got one of these triple cranksets for the holiday and a thinking I will have some incredibly low gears now with that 22t granny gear. I currently run a FD for a standard 38/53t crankset and realize I probably need a triple FD made for the purpose.

Should I go with the SLX FD with the dual top/bottom pull and band clamp? Or will something even cheaper work well? I run friction shifting downtube shifters and plan to stick with them.

I've never installed on of these "hollow tech" cranksets and hope I do it correctly. I think I need that bb tool to install the right and left side bearing cups.

Thanks a lot, as always ;)

You'll need this bottom bracket tool to install Hollowtech II.

Front derailleurs have plates shaped for thespecific outer/middle ring difference of their group. This is provided in the Shimano techdocs. You can go through them and find the derailleur models suited to your chainrings. This is not critical for friction shifting, but it will improve chain clearance and enable less frequent front derailleur adjustment.