C & V front ders for triples?
 

I'm having trouble with shifting to my granny gear with my old standard Suntour FD. It looks like it should work, but usually it doesn't. It looks like it might not really be long enough to clear the 28-tooth chain ring that I've got. Can you recommend some classic FDs that will work? Thanks

I use a Suntour Cyclone Mk II with a 52/44/28 triple

Suntour ARX works for triples, I converted my wife's Centurion Mixte with one.

SunTour Cyclone.....

https://live.staticflickr.com/5600/3...5e1d8c_c_d.jpg

Steve in Peoria

I've heard good things about Suntour Mountech.

Suntour Cyclone, BL or Mountech.
Shimano FD-620? from the 600EX group.
Deerhead and Deore FDs.
Simplex SLJ series if the bike is French.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d5cc2682ba.jpg

EDIT:

I got interrupted while posting!!

That’s a Suntour XC Pro, a first generation Suntour Mountech, a Suntour Cyclone MII and a Shimano Z206.

Other ones I’ve liked have been the XT M735 and XTR M900.

There was also a Sachs/Huret on my Trek 620 that I never had to even think about- it just worked awesome.

Nice!

If you're going with a Suntour, get one with a true clamp instead of the endless band. Not a fan of the endless band.

hmmm...i had one and liked it. it especially came in handy when i help a friend set up a mid 90's trek 520. now, i don't know about other sizes of this frame, but at least with his 23" the seat tube bottle mounts are low so that the derailleur has to mount behind the cage. nothing but that endless band would fit in there. otoh, a different bottle cage could have made the difference, but that's the cage he had

I ran into a situation like that some years back. I used bushings under the bottle cage to shim it out.

my DA 7400 can shift to the 28. it took some tweaking, but it works
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...60e1f2c1ce.jpg

I've had good luck with Campagnolo Record:

As seen above, a lot of vintage SunTour derailleurs will work. Many of them were designed for triples.

If you've got a braze-on mount, for a cheap and easy-to-find alternative you could also consider a modern MicroShift triple. It doesn't look conspicuous with vintage parts, IMO.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5d8e921c_c.jpg

Mountech on a couple of bikes, here with a 22/34/45 triple.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...47f2d2d7f6.jpg

Is that a homebrew granny ring? Nice!

Is the inner ring a freewheel sprocket? Yea baby!

It's a SunTour Perfect 22T splined cog, the smallest with a multiple of five holes/slots (ten on this one) to make it simpler to fit this five-arm crank. A few bolts, nuts and washers and presto! In the ancient days before megarange gearing this was quite a thing. Built in '83.

I will add my .02 and back up what some others are saying.

Suntour Mountech and Cyclone MKII both work. The Cyclone MKII is quickly becoming my all time favorite front derailleur, it just feels so nice to me when it shifts for some reason, I believe its fairly light, and it's very handsome.

Both derailleurs shifted the 24-39-50 triple on my Centurion ProTour very well. The Mountech has a pretty long and wide cage, which could have its benefits.

I have a Mountech with a 28.6.mm band I would sell, as well as a Cyclone MKII with the endless band, 26.8mm, that I would also sell, if you're interested

I've been using the SunTour Compe-V that came stock on my Fuji S10S - with a Sakae 48/38/28 triple crank on the original double spindle for years...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...398e48abc1.jpg