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269 Posts
Greetings:
I'm feeling beaten down this afternoon after having failed to figure out how to make an FSA compact front derailleur work on my Steelman. I run an FSA compact crank, and after a couple of years of non-perfect shifting with a Shimano Ultegra front derailleur (occassional chain deraillments off both the outer and inner rings, along with persnickity trimming), I thought I'd give the FSA a try. After an hour or so of trying every front derailleur trick I know, I was unable to get it to reliably shift up/down across all of the the cogset (9-speed) variations on the stand, which usually predicts bad things on the road. I tried positioning it higher and lower on the seat tube and rotating it inward and outward. Of course, I also monkeyed around with the limit screws until I gave up. I put the Ultegra back on the bike, and, after a couple of adjustments, it shifts like a champ (at least on the stand) compared to the FSA.
There is one thing that could be the problem: I am using non-FSA chainrings on the crank. I put Stronglight rings (48/36) that I had on hand on the FSA crank to see if I like that tooth combo better that the standard 50/34 configuration (I do). They may have different offset/spacing than the FSA ones. Just for the record, the front shifters on my bike are friction bar-cons, so indexing is not the issue.
The FSA front derailleur is very nice looking and seems to have top quality materials and design. I'm not impugning their product; I'm just frustrated that it did not work in my hands. Any and all hints and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Dale
I'm feeling beaten down this afternoon after having failed to figure out how to make an FSA compact front derailleur work on my Steelman. I run an FSA compact crank, and after a couple of years of non-perfect shifting with a Shimano Ultegra front derailleur (occassional chain deraillments off both the outer and inner rings, along with persnickity trimming), I thought I'd give the FSA a try. After an hour or so of trying every front derailleur trick I know, I was unable to get it to reliably shift up/down across all of the the cogset (9-speed) variations on the stand, which usually predicts bad things on the road. I tried positioning it higher and lower on the seat tube and rotating it inward and outward. Of course, I also monkeyed around with the limit screws until I gave up. I put the Ultegra back on the bike, and, after a couple of adjustments, it shifts like a champ (at least on the stand) compared to the FSA.
There is one thing that could be the problem: I am using non-FSA chainrings on the crank. I put Stronglight rings (48/36) that I had on hand on the FSA crank to see if I like that tooth combo better that the standard 50/34 configuration (I do). They may have different offset/spacing than the FSA ones. Just for the record, the front shifters on my bike are friction bar-cons, so indexing is not the issue.
The FSA front derailleur is very nice looking and seems to have top quality materials and design. I'm not impugning their product; I'm just frustrated that it did not work in my hands. Any and all hints and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Dale