front derailleur woes
 

Hello all its been a long time since ive posted here (been off the bike for a while now its time to return)

I have always had problems with my front derailleur namely it keep throwing the chain. Finaly after my last ride with some friends I decided to investigate the matter further. i found that it was way to high above the big ring (about 10mm) and that the tension on the cable was to high and the adjustment screws were out of wack.

Fast forward. Watched a few videos on youtube . I first adjusted the height of the derailleur cage to within 3mm of the top ring highest teeth. put the chain in the lowest gear on the back (biggest cog) adjusted the limit screws on the front so that there was about 1mm of space between the cage and the chain.

Shifted to smallest gear in back. and put the front derailleur into 2nd and adjusted it so that it was also about 1mm from the chain.

On the stand the bike works great I was very happy to see that it was working correctly. So I decided to go for a test ride today before i have to work. with a smile on my face i pushed the right brifter in and waited for the shift......... NOTHING! The chain grabs at the ring and clatters and clacks but will never make the leap even if i hold the brifter in with my hand.

Brought the bike back into the garage and hung it on my stand and proceded to see what the problem was. Again everything is working fine on the stand but out on the street it wont make the leap. I was even soft pedaling it so there was almost no load on the chain and I was keeping the cadance up. I cant think of one reason why it wont shift.

Someone help please.

Before I forget my groupo is shimano 105 but it has a fsa front derailleur (not sure what model but I can find out if someone needs to know) Very frustrating to not have my big ring basically makes this bike forced to be ridden slow.

Thanks
Sean Scott

Bring it by the bike shop so we can have a look first hand.. typing is not seeing.

Outer limit screw too tight?

perhaps your brifter is showing a defect. consider replacing it.

other than that , read the terrain, don't ask things to up shift, much, climbing a hill.

Spin without chain tension, upshift as you coast down the other side of the climb.

Assuming that the high limit screw is adjusted correctly, I would try shooting the shifters full of WD40.
Of course you could try backing out the high limit screw slightly and increasing the cable tension a bit.
If the shift cables and cable housings are old they probably need replacing.
There is a lot of mechanical help available at www.parktool.com.

A few questions:
- Is all of the equipment OEM? Was the front derailleur ever replaced? How about the front crank? I'm wondering why it was ever 10mm above the ring. I have always thought of the front derailleur as more crude or "coarse" in its action, less deserving of fine-tuning, but after completing a 10-sp upgrade I've realized the front derailleur can be even more finicky than the rear.
- Was the front derailleur ever bent/damaged and subsequently bent back or repaired? I've heard the opinion that if the front der. gets bent then it is time for a new one.
- Why did you position the derailleur height 3mm above the rings? I think that is still too much. Try 1mm. I think Park Tool recommends using a penny to gauge this.

What I find is that often a bike performs a bit differently when adjusting it than when riding it. Why it does this I do not know. The place I would start is bringing out your top limiter a bit. Bring a screwdriver with you, and then ride a bit and adjust a bit. I'm not a pro mechanic, so my adjustments on the workbench are not always 100%. So I find it helps to take the bike for a ride to fine tune my adjustments. This approach has worked for me.

Do not use WD40 on your shifters. "WD" stands for "Water Displacement" which is what it is really good at. Spray WD40 down seat tubes after rainy rides, and use it to clean out Chris King hubs, but never spray it into any moving parts you want lubed. When it evaporates it leaves a gummy residue of mostly mineral oil which is not very good at lubricating metal parts but is super good at catching dust.

When cleaning/lubing something as intricate as STI levers, use a high quality spray lube from a bike shop.

All of that having been said, none of this points to the shifter being sticky.

Take a close look at the FD cage. My 105 was damaged by several chain sucking incidents. I had to bend the front of the cage back to it's designed location. Since these are aluminum, I didn't expect it to last much longer. I replaced mine (wish I had purchased the Ultrega version... only $15 more). I did get the newer 105 version... very easy to replace. Next year I'll replace my FD to match my new Ultegra RD... also easy to replace.

As I replaced the FD, I noticed my cage was actually broken! I had to look closely, but the horizontal piece connecting the outer and inner cage pieces was broken. So under no pressure it would shift fine, but when there was tension on the chain... not so good.

There have been many many posts on this forum and others about how well WD40 has cured numerous troublesome STI shifters. WD40 saved my 9-speed D-A shifters from being replaced many years ago and they are still working perfectly. WD40 helps loosen hardened factory grease and remove dirt and other crud from the shifters. Many bike shops use this same cure.
I suggest you search through the forum archives.

There should be a forum just for WD40. Yes WD means Water Displacement, but it also cleans and (slightly) lubricates. Some say it leaves things slightly sticky. But that has not really been my experience; I find it's effective as a cleaner, penetrates well while not being unpleasant indoors. You do have to follow up with a real lubricant. If you just leave the WD40 residue behind, yes it is just a bit sticky, and its lubricating properties are very short lived.

try backing off the high screw by 1/8 of a turn . your problem may be the frame is flexing under load which would keep the derailleur / chain from completing the shift . all bike have flexing in them at one level or another .and it is ok to use WD-40 on the shifters if need ,just replace with a oil like triflo .

All derailleurs work perfectly with the bike in the stand. The reasons for this are mysterious. :-)

Thank you everyone for the replies.

yes this is the OE equipment. My bike is an iron horse victory 3.0 that i got on closeout from amazon (73% off) Because the bike was bought from online instead of a bike shop the front was never properly adjusted (im sure I took a wack at adjusting it but didnt have the proper knowlege)

Fast forward. After going inside and relaxing from getting very frustrated with the bike and stripping off my now sweat soaked shorts and jersey I relaxed for a bit cooled off and took one last look before work.

Amazingly if you come back to a project and give it some time to rest you find your dumbest mistakes. For whatever odd reason I didnt have the cage aligned with the rings. the cage had the rear end angled in towards the bike so when i threw the front adjustment it wasnt doing anything.

If i do remember right after talking to my local bike shop about my frustration (and this is from my really poor memory) I remember them telling me that FSA never made the best derailleurs. I also have fsa brakes and im not to happy with them either (probably just the pads but im not sure as of yet)

Thanks everyone ill keep you updated im going to take a test ride tomorow before work to check it out I need to get this thing working soon Wednesday is my day off Im going to go for a nice long ride.

Thanks
Sean Scott

P.S. I have always lubed my brifters with wd-40 im sure its not the chemical of choice for pro mechanics but I have had good luck with it and have heard many other people having success with it too. alto a dry ptfe lube would probably be ideal.

This, I think, is key. I keep WD40 around and use it for a lot of things. It is an economical cleaner and you can get it just about anywhere, but it is mostly Stoddard Solvent (Mineral Spirits). You can go even more low-budget and put some mineral spirits in a spray bottle and use that. The added benefit there is there will be zero residue. You can also use mineral spirits as a carrier for a better lube than mineral oil.