Are modern FDs really that bad / hard to adjust? i learned to ride a 2x5 > drivetrain (Schwinn Suburban) in 1969. That bike weighed 38 lbs, but it > always shifted just fine. I rode 2x and 3x with only Campagnolo Nuovo > Record FDs from 1972 to 2002, never a problem (maybe a Suntour Cyclone in > there somewhere for a year or two). In common with the Schwinn FD (Huret?) > was that they had smooth cages. Still have 3 bikes with Campy NR FDs. i > think that many modern derailleurs are built to match a certain crank / > chainring combo, and when asked to do something different, do not work as > well. I did go with a friction shifted mostly smooth caged Dura-Ace FD-7800 > (2003) on my Custom.
They're not hard if you stick to the default gearing that Shimano/SRAM/Campy in their infinite wisdom chose for us. Unfortunately that gearing is suitable only for people who live in flatland or are 25 year old strong cyclists. A 30t small chainwheel is worthless to me. Those of us looking for a low gear of around 19" or less ended up picking much smaller chainrings and discovering that the FD becomes unreliable as a result. I remember it took my bike shop a long time to find a front deraileur that would shift a 24/38/48 combination. And even then I tore that derailleur off by shifting while riding over railroad tracks. One time I shift my tandem (24/39/52) at the wrong time on a climb, and not only tore off the derailleur and broke the chain, but also tore off teeth on the chainrings and sheared off one chainring bolt. The bike shop had to drill out that chainring bolt to put in new chainrings. Yes, two people pedaling hard on a climb can do that to a crank! It's possible to do bad things to 1x drivetrains too, but fortunately, many ebikes come with one and Shimano/SRAM have had to adjust to the increased torque that ebikes can produce and so those drivetrains are actually hardy when someone like me abuses them. Piaw -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAPh0EZ4g48d6YpnpmcawiM6v7-JUaJC1ZuTh9mHaqS-Swu-81w%40mail.gmail.com.
