Directional Chains
 

Well, They're not new, but they are new to me. I just realized I installed my new 5700 chain backward. I'm hoping that explains the chain drops I've been experiencing since my high/low settings do not appear to be wrong. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get a replacement pin to correct my error until Wednesday due to time constraints.

Has anyone else experienced dropped chains and difficult to dial in shifting with a reversed directional chain? I'm hoping that fixing this will be the end to my shifting woes.

Shimano chain replacement pin:

Amazon.com: KMC Missing Link (10-Speed Cd/6): Sports & Outdoors

I was in the same boat very recently having just dealt with Sram mountain bike chains previously. I didn't have any problems with dropped chains, but couldn't get the shifting up to my standards. Once I figured out that the chain was directional and flipped it around, it started working great. Chain dropping is probably limits, though.

And/or misaligned/bent derailleur

Limits seem fine to me and the most prominent dropping issue is going from small to big (in the front) and it is not dropping off the outside.

Alignment looks good as well.

I'm not sure I follow? Is it dropping from the big ring back to the small? I could see that that could happen. My problem manifested itself by having laggy shifts on the rear either going up or down depending how I tuned it. But I couldn't get it balanced to shift quickly in both directions. I could definitely see you having a similar problem with the front.

Exactly, it drops back to the small from the big.

I have that issue in the back as well. they are slow to respond in one direction or the other depending on how I adjust especially under any sort of load. On the stand I can get it to shift perfectly.

Then I'll say yes, your problems are from the chain being mounted backwards. Get a few pins, it's always useful to have spares around.

Yeah, so flipped the chain around and wow. I *thought* it shifted fairly smoothly before when on the stand. Now it is effortless and shifting under load on the trainer it works perfectly. Stupid directional chains...