bikemig 

I just finished building up a 93 bridgestone XO-2 with claris brifters, claris derailleurs, and a ritchey mtb triple crank. The chain rubs when in the big chain ring. The FD isn't close to hitting the crank arms so I have plenty of room to have the FD swing a bit farther out. I set the limit screw to let this happen (and I have the derailleur cable properly tensioned) but the brifter simply won't let this happen. It overshifts a bit and then centers itself on a spot that leads to rubbing.

I take it that this is just an example of why brifters and a triple front are a bit of a kludge? Is there something obvious I am missing? As I said, the limit screw is opened up so this is not stopping the FD from moving out and the cable is properly tensioned. I think the problem has to be in the brifter travel.

One solution is to do the Lance Armstrong thing and just use a downtube shifter on the left. That's not a bad solution but I'm hoping to get the brifter working properly.

Here's a pic of the bike:

Retro Grouch 

What does your front derailleur look like when you're in your granny gear? You're starting point might be too far inward toward the seat tube.

Once front derailleurs act screwy, I'm a believer in disconnecting the shift cable and starting completely over beginning with the position of the derailleur on the seat tube.

dsbrantjr

Make sure that you are not leaving too much clearance when you set up the FD low limit screw. If you leave too much clearance when in the big rear/small front you may end up with insufficient travel when you try to shift across to the big ring. I leave about 1mm, no more is needed.

Edit: RetroGrouch beat me to it.

bikemig 

Cool beans; I'll give this a shot and report back.

shelbyfv

I wonder if the "road" fd may not have the range of travel for the MTB crank?

Andrew R Stewart 

I have read (so it must be true...) that MtB cranks have a wider ring C-C the road ones.

Today at work a bike came into the shop with a recent conversion and problems. A late 1990s Bridgestone X series converted to drops and STI. the Tourney brifters couldn't pull enough cable for the Alivio and Ritchey ATB crank combo. Or for that mater the linear pull brakes. WE only were able to adjust the rear shifting and noted the miss match for the "other shop" to ponder their situation. Andy.

bikemig 

What you read might actually be true about mtb cranks being a bit wider C to C than road cranks, . The bike I have was designed for drops (not that that matters). The brifters work fine with cantilevers in any case. I adjusted the low adjustment screw on the FD as closely as I could to the chain and tensioned the cable. That helped a bit with the rubbing on the big chain ring but didn't solve the problem.

The rubbing isn't bad and I'll live with it for a day or two until it drives me nuts, . I'll either go with a downtube shifter on the left (not a bad solution) or just go with a road triple. I'll suspect I'll end up using a downtube shifter on the left since a triple with a brifter is a bit kludgy.

Doug64

+1

Check your chainline. Most Mtn cranks are designed to run with a 50 mm chainline. Road cranks are designed to run with a 45 mm chainline. A shorter bottom bracket may be the solution. I run 103 mm BB on touring bikes when setting them up with mtn cranks. The standard road BB is in the neighborhood of 110- 113 mm. The Tiagra 4503 FD is very versatile, if you can find one.