I'm installing my first set of Suntour barcon shifters - the ratcheting model - and am having an issue and thought I'd see if anyone has suggestions. Of course, I could just be an idiot also.

I have installed the cables and attached them to the derailleurs. The front seems to pull the front derailluer fine but when I move the rear shifter for the rear the rear derailleur won't move to a lower gear. I've installed with the shifter in the down position, but I'm not sure exactly how these ratcheting shifters work.

Ratcheting doesn't matter, they work just like friction, but with a ratchet on the upshift. The barcon lever should be down pointing at the ground when the RD is at the smallest cog. That is the way you have it right?

Things to consider:

Is the housing moving?
Do you have tension on the cable before shifting?
Cable locked good at the RD?

Don't get caught up by the ratcheting thing...they're just levers.

Unless it's one of those Shimano Rapid Rise deraillers.

Yep, installed with the lever pointed down and the both small rings - front and rear. Housing is not moving. I'm going to go mess around a little more. The cable doesn't appear to be slipping. I'm sure it's something simple.

Nope, Suntour alpha 3000 that I was running in friction mode with the Suntour 3000 shifters when they were mounted to mtb bars.

Do you have the cable reasonably tight in the small-cog position? Are you getting tension in the cable along the downtube when you pull up on the shifter? How about along the chainstay? Did you check the limit screws?

loosen the cable and recheck the limits on the RD. is the housing running under the bartape all the way to the stem? maybe itis just binding a bit

I don't have the bar tape on yet - so it's easier to adjust, etc. I finally got it to move 4 out of the 5 gears in the rear but it won't go to the low gear (28t) - and that's with the low limt screw adjuster all the way out.

As I thought about it last night (even when I woke up in the middle of the night - hate it when that happens) I think it could be the derailleur itself. With the original shifters, housing and cable the shifter was always really stiff feeling and it was a hard pull to get the derailleur to shift gears. Now, it's doing the same thing with new housing, shifters and cable - only even a little harder. I'm going to check all the pivot points today and, if I can, maybe even switch the long cage to another 3000 derailleur that I have and see if that helps the situation.

it does sound like the Derailleur is the common point there.

Aside from this issue, how do you like the Alpha3000? I just got a set attached to a random frame .

I know of a guy in town here who's got a ton of mtb parts. I'm going to call and see if he's got a long cage derailleur he's willing to part with and see if that fixes the problem. The other 3000 I have is in really nice shape and is a medium cage so I think I'll keep it as is.

I'm running a 3000 rear derailleur on my beater/errand bike - the Nishiki. And it actually works pretty good. It's not a quick shifter but it is reliable. This mtb had the entire 3000 set up with derailleurs and shifters. Index mode was really a pain to get dialed in so I ran in friction mode most of the time.

fwiw, the Deore stuff that's on my '88 Stumpjumper works great. If he has one of those for decent money I'd go for it.

I had an alpha 5000 group on a Bridgestone 550 and it shifted flawlessly in indexed mode. Granted, it's the only indexed downtube system I've used but it seemed like a great group. I had heard that the suntour alpha groups were temperamental and required special housing going from the chainstay stop to the derailleur. Luckily, I didn't have to replace that housing and I'm assuming it was still the stock one on there.

4th hand tools are the 'bees knees' in these situations. to pull out slack in cables..