Originally Posted by
Eggman84
If it is a Shimano FD than the number is on the inside of the inner cage. Without that, its hard to diagnose if its the derailleur or something else. My recommendation is to turn the rear of the FD out a little so it doesn't rub when in the large/small combo, then see if it works okay in other combinations. There is some wiggle room in setting up triples. Sheldon Brown gave some ideas why you might not want the outer cage perfectly parallel with the chainrings.
The model number is: FD-4503. Thanks for the tip on angling. I'll read through Sheldon's page on it and give it a try.
Originally Posted by
cudak888
Post up a photo. I'm curious if someone put a way-too-wide BB spindle in it, putting the cranks too far outboard of the frame.
-Kurt
Took a couple quick pictures. Hopefully this helps. The contact with the chain isn't firm, but just enough that it's constant.
Originally Posted by
MiPeGr
I can't speak for durability yet...I've maybe just got 150 miles on mine, but I'm quite satisfied with my Alivio FC-T4060. It's a 44-32-22 9-speed triple. External bearing BB.
My front derailleur (probably about the same age as yours...it's M5-something...2006 era) is at the very limit of its travel when in the big ring. It took 2 or 3 tries to get it dialed in, but now that I have, it shifts sooooo much better than the stock OEM (non-Shimano) crankset, no matter how many times I tried to dial it in.
Thanks for the suggestion. I was actually looking at the same crankset, but I've never heard of the Alivio series so I initially wrote it off as garbage. If it comes to swapping out the crankset I'll give this a serious look. I'm avoiding buying anything for now until I can figure out what the culprit is. How's the external BB? I only have experience with Octalink V1 and V2.