road FD/triple recommendations
 

hey all.....hope this finds you well

i'm on the ebay hunt for an early/mid 90's unit that will work well with shimano road sti. need not be fancy, either. actually would prefer it not be. keep asking prices down to the ol' budget. what's your recommendation? i'm sure there are groups i haven't thought of

i need it to shift an early 90's deore lx crankset, though. would it work?

thanks!!

Are your Shimano brifters 8 speed, I assume, with left designed for a triple or are you looking for those, too? If it’s just mechs, I’m a big fan of 90s XTR derailleurs. Available in medium to long cage rear and front that handles triples no problem (though you need to make sure you find a bottom pull FD).

the shifters are ultegra 9spd. i didn't think it mattered on the front, though. and, a front ROAD derailleur is all i'm looking for. xtr, being mtn, wouldn't get me anywhere different. i have several mtn FD's for triples. and, even if xtr's shifted the same as road units with brifters, yes....they are quite nice and enviable, but man...the prices....lol

6503 Ultegra should work, and you can usually find them cheap. Among new components, Microshift makes a silver triple fd that looks and works great.

With Shimano STI, you will definitely need a Shimano Road Triple FD: Sora, Claris, Tiagra (I believe), 105, Ultegra. Not sure if there was a DA a triple FD. They designed those road FD’s with a shorter pull arm from pivot to cable clamp that is required for compatibility with indexing STI front shifters. The MTB FD’s (Deore, XT, XTR, not sure what the others are) have a longer pull arm that doesn’t shift correctly due to incorrect pull ratio with those road brifters.

One thing to watch out for: some of those Shimano road FD’s have a very deep inner cage plate that doesn’t seem to work on big-middle ring differences of 8T or less because it drags on the middle ring when shifted to the outer ring. Here’s the triple FD cage shape that does work: I’d offer it for the price of postage, but this one has failed at the spring retention prong.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-mN7Ld3V-L.jpg

Don’t get me going on the value of indexing front shifts - I’m an Ergo shifter guy that can use anything in front.

BTW, a DT front shift lever can use anything also. My son’s DA 9-speed front shifter stop working, so we installed a DA front DT shifter. Works great, and more easily trimmed, for the few occasions that he makes a front shift.

I have an Ultegra 6503 FD on my Miyata Alumicross and it is without a doubt the best, most trouble-free FD I’ve had. In fact, when I’m riding that bike it’s the only time I’ve ever actually noticed what a good job the front derailleur does.

As others have said, however, it’s not completely mix-and-match; I’ve owned or worked on a lot of bikes, they can be finicky; you think you have everything figured out and when it gets clamped on it hits the chain stay in low gear, etc. Helps to have a few different cage shapes in the bins for trial-and-error.

really i am wanting to go with something early/mid 90's to keep it "looking right" with all the other bits. was ultegra made that early? i'll have to dig into it more. i mean, i have doodled about on ebay looking at early ultegra, but most of it was 9spd double and then 10spd on double or triple.

yes, thank you. i'm aware of the road sti and mtn FD compatibility mismatch. it's why i'm looking for a road front.

thank you for the inner plate/ring mating tip. i really hadn't thought of it. that sora FD is something i will look for. trivially, it kinda goes with a "hierarchy matching" of the rest of the drivetrain ...vs. DA or ultegra

i have a shimergo set up on one bike, i get it :)

no DT shifters for me, anymore...haha! i'm over it. besides, no boss on the frame for it. so, good excuse ;)

yeah, i'm using 48/38/28 rings. i hope a road derailleur will work well for it. hmmm....

you mean something like this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/microSHIFT-...|clp%3A2334524

that does look pretty good. hmmm....i may do that if i can't find anything a bit cheaper. ha...yeah, cheap = name of the game lately

oh, btw....the ad mentions rings of 52-30. you think it would work well for a 48-28 set up?

On my winter/rain bike, I have a road double FD shifting a 48/34 crankset and it works perfectly, and I was nervous about it. So you never know, I guess.

For sure the 6500 series Ultegra did a full 9 speed triple configuration. I've got a mostly NOS setup just sitting waiting for the right build.

Maybe a Shimano RSX FD-A417, from mid '90's. Not a top group component but may work since it's 7/8 speed, designed for smaller outer ring, and part of a road group. Matching crank was 46 or 48 teeth outer ring. Should be inexpensive:p.

lol...well, again, i actually prefer not top group in this case...trivial as it is

RSX!! now, see? there's definitely a group i hadn't thought of. thank you. i'll keep my eyes open for that, too :)

nice!!!! i think that group is probably my favorite of all if not a close second

right. in my thinking 48 is only a few teeth away from the standard 52/50 outer rings. probably not a big deal. thanks!!!!

As long as the tooth count difference between the big and middle rings is the same 10t as the 9s Ultegra/105 triples or the 8s 105/RX100/RSX triples, the derailer should work well.

Exceptions are "flat-bar" mtb and road derailers or anything made to work with a 52-39-30t crankset, which won't work well if at all.

For what it's worth, I have an ~2000 Sora triple (I don't remember the model number, but it is the 3x8 gearing). That FD does not have the deep cage plate that the newer Sora pictured above has. It works very nicely with the stock 30-42-52 chainrings as well as on the 26-39-50 that I currently have it set up with. I can't imagine it would have any trouble with your 28-38-48.

thank you for all the generous input, everyone. i think i have enough basis for my needs, now. much appreciated! :)

here's an rsx. now, dude says it's an mtb derailleur. is he wrong?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-RSX...0AAOSw5R5dMPUQ

Yes, he's wrong. RSX is a "road" group and should be compatible with road triple brifters. Gears to you!

Here is what I did to a Shimano 105 5703 triple to run a 49x46x34 half step triple. I trimmed the back to fit the closeness of the 2 large chainrings.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f1f90c7242.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2dc04490b2.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bf6a2562ef.jpg

The bike is currently apart and I can take a better pic of the derailleur If you would like.

-I have some RSX (road) and STX (MTB) and other than the finish, (silver v 'black chrome')I really can't find the difference. RSX is a 7/8-sp FD and the cage plates are very wide; If you're running a 9-sp, it may have trouble picking up the narrower chain.

thanks for the heads up! i'll keep that in mind should i run into any trouble in set up :)