BenGeldreich

Hello,

I hope this finds you all safe and well!

I'm searching for a vintage front derailleur that will work well with Velo Orange's 46/30 crank. I'll be using friction down tube shifters and setting the crank up so that the 46 is aligned to the centre of my rear cassette. This way the 46 will be my main gear and the 30 will only be used as a bailout gear. This will help me keep the Q-factor low and will in turn mean that I won't be shifting the FD all that much.

I've had my eye on a few vintage FD's on ebay and one in particular is the Suntour Superbe (FD-2000). I've seen a few for a decent price, but according to VeloBase the Max ring difference for that FD is 14T which obviously won't work with the VO crank. However I've read a few posts where users have stated that Suntour's max ring difference is very conservative. I thought I'd ask if anyone on here has used this combination successfully prior to me purchasing the derailleur? If not, is there another vintage FD that someone would recommend over the Suntour Superbe?

I believe the Suntour Cyclone FD-1300 and the Shimano 600EX Fd-6200 have a max ring difference of 18 and could work if I can find one for a reasonable price. I've also looked into the IRD Sub-C as a modern solution and know of a few riders who have used these successfully with my setup but wanted to keep the look of the bike a tad more vintage!

Thanks
Ben

Lascauxcaveman 

Actually, it will work with the VO crank. The 14-tooth difference is the standard that all (most?) manufacturers list for their FDs intended for two-ring chain sets, but almost all FDs will will friction shift 16 nearly as well.

I guess I can't say this with 100% certainty (I've never used that particular FD), but I'd risk it, if that's the one I had my eye on. If you absolutely don't want to risk it, look for an FD intended for a triple, they have a shifting cage that drops down a little lower on the end to accommodate the smaller inner ring.

I have Shimano 600 (TriColor, 6200 series) FD that's shifting a 50-34 chainset just fine; so I can personally vouch for that one going to a 16-tooth difference.

thook

any of the cyclone and BL derailleurs will make that jump. the tail end of the cage is quite long enough to avoid any chain drag and also not hit the chainstay being that low down the seat tube to accommodate the 46t and then shifting down to the 30t

79pmooney

I haven't ridden Superbe FDs but have many, many thousands of miles on Cyclones. A lot on ARs. Granted never more than 54-42 but I have used them on triples (53-42-28) and they have worked fine except the chain drags on the bolt in small ring-smaller cogs.. You might see chain drag on the combos you don't intend to use but it will shift (and run on those noisy combos) just fine.

What I do to prevent wearing out the bushing over the cage bolt is very simple. I buy a bunch of #4 washers and use them to replace the bushing. Chain is harder than the washers and it doesn't care.

Go for it and enjoy!

Ben

Cougrrcj

Like the others have said, any FD that will work on a triple will handle 20+ tooth differences - although the larger the jump will decrease shifting smoothness. I'm running a 48-38-28 triple on my Fuji's stock SunTour Compe-V, and the Univega Gran Tourismo works just fine with the SunTour Mountech FD on the stock 52/46/28 crankset.

zukahn1 

Well for reference I have one bike with 52 classic big ring Sugino fixed ring crank and a 36 inner vintage with no problems using a older VX. Most nicer Suntour stuff 70,s through 80;s lang cage well run pretty much max gearing for a 1/2 chain. As for the 40/30 I would lean towards one of there 80's MT front Dr's which can be had dirt cheap