Front derailleur advice
 

I need suggestions for a friend regarding a top pull front derailleur for a Mongoose build. He has a Shimano Altus on it, but it quite obviously does not fit well due to the fact that the cable routing has quite an angle when clamped. Is there a front derailleur with the cable clamp situated on the left side that pulls from the top. I'm an old road bike guy so newer MTB stuff is Greek to me. I thought the Ultegra Triple would work, but I believe it is a bottom pull.

Thanks for your help.

Or is this normal?

This unfortunately is probably a design flaw on the bike.

Is it the stock derailleur?
Can you run the cable around the bottom of the clamp bolt from the other side to reduce the angle?

From what l gather, clamping the cable in a CCW direction doesn't make that much difference in the angle were it leaves the cable stop on the frame. It is a donor frame, and you can see where the OE FD was mounted substantially nearer to the BB. Obviously, it was a significantly different design than what he has presently installed. My MTB is from 1985 so I am absolutely no help with this kind of stuff. I'm sure that with all the different suspension frames that have come out in the last dozen or more years, that some components had to be designed more specific to a particular frame for fit and function.

A top swing will be a better replacement

Take a look at a Deore M510. It is a low clamp/top swing and the cable routing should work for you. It is a dual pull and the top pull routes from the back.
The bike is hanging from the rafters. I can't see the P/N on the cage, but I'm pretty sure it is an M510.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3f7721d379.jpg
John

Thank you for the response John. That style would definitely solve the problem! He must have thought it could be built with whatever was in the spare parts bin. There's a good chance that that is exactly what was installed in the first place.

What's a front derailleur?