Shifter compatability?
 

I've been wanting to change a few things on my bike for a while now, and one of those things is the LH shifter.

Atm I have complete deore setup with raceface cranks. I would like to try using a SRAM twist shifter and dropping one ring (down to a double). Can I keep my current front deraileur or do I have to buy a SRAM one.

I'm also not entirely sure about how to set it up for 2 rings. If it sounds easy, I may give it a go, if not I may just get the local mechanic to do it.

you dont need to buy a sram front derailleur, shimano front derailleurs will work just fine with sram shifters.

as for the front chainrings i'm going to assume that you just want to get rid of your big ring. you'll just need to buy a bashguard that is big enough to cover your middle ring and has the same bolt pattern as you current chainrings. something like this http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...84&category=58

And if you take off the big ring only, you'd need shorter chainring bolts, might be easier to work on if you take the driveside crank off, too. Wonder how weird that would be to have two different kinds of shifters? Have you ever ridden that way?

I was thinking more about how do I make it so that the chain doesn't accidently go too far.

And no, I haven't ridden a bike set up like this before, but how will I ever know if I like it if a don't try. I rarely use my front shifter, because around me it's either long uphills when I shift down a ring at the start, or undulating where I can sope with staying in my big ring.

It's partly for weight reasons (yes, I'm a bit of a weight weenie). Will save weight because the shifter is lighter, and also because I'll be more happy going down to two rings if I can move the front deraileur to be able to use the whole cassette in each ring.

If you get SRAM Attack twist shifters, you can switch both shifters and keep your Shimano RD too.

Most do this by simply using the limit screw adjustment on the derailleur.

I only want the front one to be twist though, want to keep the rear as trigger.

Does any SRAM twist work with a shimano FD then?

Also are there any guides people could recommend for setting up a FD.

The differences between Shimano and SRAM as far as shifter and derailleur combinations go are in the rear only (altho SRAM front derailleurs IMHO aren't as good). If you have a SRAM rear derailleur you need a SRAM shifter. SRAM does make a line of shifters called Attack that are Shimano compatible. The reason is that SRAM rear derailleurs need a different amount of cable pull (SRAM's advertised 1:1 ratio vs Shimano's "2:1", cuz it's not really 2, more like 1.7 IIRC). Parktool.com's repair section has good info on derailleur adjustment, among others.