[Triumph]

hey peeps, new guy on board and have an issue maybe you can help me resolve.

I just recently acquired a roadbike, nothing great Iron Horse Triumph. It came with triple shifters and a triple ring crank. My bud swapped them for a set of older Dura Ace Doubles and now the shifting is all weird. Plus it constantly sounds like my drivetrain is out of alignment.
What's the deal? Should I put my old cranks back on? Would this fix the issues? Sorry for the annoying first post, I promise they'll get more in tune.Thanks.

 

[Spoke Wrench]

This is where the fun begins.

hey peeps, new guy on board and have an issue maybe you can help me resolve.

I just recently acquired a roadbike, nothing great Iron Horse Triumph. It came with triple shifters and a triple ring crank. My bud swapped them for a set of older Dura Ace Doubles and now the shifting is all weird. Plus it constantly sounds like my drivetrain is out of alignment.
What's the deal? Should I put my old cranks back on? Would this fix the issues? Sorry for the annoying first post, I promise they'll get more in tune.Thanks.

You really need to figure out what exactly is causing the grinding noise. Hang your bike from the front wheel from something and watch the drivetrain parts while you turn the crank with your hand. Think on it hard enough and you'll figure it out. Then you'll be on your way to becoming a bike wrench.

If you have an adjustment problem, just changing the parts back might not solve the problem because you can screw up the adjustment on a cheap crank too.

 

[Triumph]

You really need to figure out what exactly is causing the grinding noise. Hang your bike from the front wheel from something and watch the drivetrain parts while you turn the crank with your hand. Think on it hard enough and you'll figure it out. Then you'll be on your way to becoming a bike wrench.

If you have an adjustment problem, just changing the parts back might not solve the problem because you can screw up the adjustment on a cheap crank too.

Spoke Wrench, thank you for your intuitive reply. I think I may not have explained myself well enough. I have been a mountain bike mechanic for 4 years now and undertand adjustments very well, however I am unclear, with regard to roadbikes, on the whole issue of Triple and Double working together. So I guess my real question is can you use a double crank with triple shifters/derailleurs and vice versa?

 

[Rusty Coggs]

Double/triple

So I guess my real question is can you use a double crank with triple shifters/derailleurs and vice versa?[/QUOTE]
.............................................Well, generally yes with current stuff. But it still has to be set up right.The Older DA crank it's self is not an issue but it may have required a BB switch as well.As spoke said, you are the best diagnosticator when it comes to 'noises', and if you know your way around MTB, road stuff should not be that big a mysrery.

 

[TimA]

As has already been said, you might need a new BB as well. When I went from mtb's to road stuff one thing that confused me for a bit was the shifter indexing. Not sure which model you have exactly, but it likely has 4 index points. On a double crank you have 2 for the little ring, 2 for the bigger ring. You need to trim the der. by choosing the appropriate index point. On a triple in goes 1-2-1 so you can only trim the middle ring. So basically, it may be in the right gear, but the wrong trim.

 

[Nater]

I'd say you need to change the BB too...

With the Dura-Ace crankset, you'll need a shorter BB spindle than the triple crankset that came with the bike. I'll bet the stock crankset came with something like a 118mm spindle while the Dura Ace double needs a 109.5mm if it's a newer Octalink (splined) crankset and it might even need something as short as a 103mm spindle if it's an even older square taper crankset.

Hope we're helping!

 

[Al1943]

Bb

If you didn't change the bottom bracket that is probably the problem. The shifters should be OK once they are adjusted. Tell the guy you traded with that you need the bottom bracket for the double and the D-A shifters too (you really don't need the D-A shifters, but they're better).
~Al

 

[lithiapark]

Don't know if it is applicable in you case but when I went from an Ultegra triple to a 50/34 compact double, replaced the BB to keep the right chainline, and also had to replace the FD because the inner plate of the triple FD had a bump in it that I couldn't adjust in a way that it wouldn't rub the 34 ring. Still using the triple shifter, works fine.