Front derailleur advice.

[Harry Spatz]

I needed lower gears than the 34-50 chain rings and 36-11 cogs gave me on my 2018 S40. I changed out the 10 speed double tap for 11 speed double tap for shifting the rear derailleur and used a Shimano M8000 11 speed long cage rear derailleur to shift a 42-11 11 speed cassette. I used a Jtek Shiftmate 9 and the rear shifting is flawless. I did not change the front derailleur or front double tap shifter. My problem is when I have the front derailleur adjusted low enough over the large chain ring for good shifts, the chain hits the top of the derailleur cage when in 50 front and 42 rear (large/large). I know, I know. I shouldn't be cross chaining, but sometimes you just need a lower gear for a short time and using the 50/42 is easier than making a double shift (shifting both front and rear.)

If I raise the front derailleur up enough so that the chain clears its top in the 50/42, it won't shift cleanly. My question is what front derailleur might work when at the correct height and not have the chain hit the top of the front derailleur when in the 50 front/42 rear (large/large)? The derailleur has to work with my SRAM double tap shifter.

Would an 11 speed SRAM YAW derailleur fix this problem? Any other ideas?

Thanks.

 

[cpml123]

I have Sram Rival Yaw FD. It clears 52 front 40 back. However, as you said, the front shifting from 34 to 52 is certainly not crisp. Drags a little sometimes.

 

[Harry Spatz]

Thanks for your response cpml123. Does your yaw clear 52/40 because you adjusted it higher than it should be adjusted? I ask because the yaw derailleurs are known to shift very well when set up properly which is more difficult than most front derailleurs and are very sensitive to height above larger chain ring.

 

[cpml123]

Thanks for your response cpml123. Does your yaw clear 52/40 because you adjusted it higher than it should be adjusted? I ask because the yaw derailleurs are known to shift very well when set up properly which is more difficult than most front derailleurs and are very sensitive to height above larger chain ring.

Urrr... well I have to say I can't take any credit. I bought the S40 as a complete bike, but the FD never really shifted properly that it frequently dropped the chain when I shifted from 34 to 50. I read on the forum that it's because the gap for Yaw FD and 50 ring is too big due to the derailleur stalk design issue, and it works better with bigger ring. So I just changed the ring to 52, and it's like magic. It seldom drops the chain now, and I never had the chain rubbing with 52/40 before or after the ring change.

Michael

 

[Harry Spatz]

I bought my S40 used and the front derailleur shifted poorly. I found the derailleur would not go close enough to the chain rings to shift properly. When I removed the derailleur, I found that there were two holes with which to attach the derailleur and the previous owner chose the bottom hole when he should have used the top one. Then it went as close as needed for proper shifting. Do the Yaw derailleurs have 2 mounting positions?

 

[cpml123]

I bought my S40 used and the front derailleur shifted poorly. I found the derailleur would not go close enough to the chain rings to shift properly. When I removed the derailleur, I found that there were two holes with which to attach the derailleur and the previous owner chose the bottom hole when he should have used the top one. Then it went as close as needed for proper shifting. Do the Yaw derailleurs have 2 mounting positions?

I have no idea if the Yaw derailleur has 2 mounting positions since I didn't install it from the beginning. I would be really annoyed if it does and I didn't have to buy a 52 ring to close the gap. :-( Someone else will have to weigh in.

 

[Harry Spatz]

I looked up on the SRAM site and found a PDF for 2021 road frame specifications and found that the 10-speed front derailleur has 2 mounting positions, but the 11-speed only has one. That PDF told me exactly how far above the crank centerline the front derailleur needs to mount and it is too low, so I ordered from Amazon a thing called bikinGreen 46/30T chairing Front derailleur Adapter for Some Special Frame. This appears to mount where your front derailleur mounts and then extends either up or down to increase where you can mount the front derailleur. It cost less than $20 so I figured I don't have much to lose. If it appears to work, I'll order an 11 speed YAW and report on it.

 

[cpml123]

I looked up on the SRAM site and found a PDF for 2021 road frame specifications and found that the 10-speed front derailleur has 2 mounting positions, but the 11-speed only has one. That PDF told me exactly how far above the crank centerline the front derailleur needs to mount and it is too low, so I ordered from Amazon a thing called bikinGreen 46/30T chairing Front derailleur Adapter for Some Special Frame. This appears to mount where your front derailleur mounts and then extends either up or down to increase where you can mount the front derailleur. It cost less than $20 so I figured I don't have much to lose. If it appears to work, I'll order an 11 speed YAW and report on it.

Maybe I could have used that $20 adapter to close the gap to the 50t ring instead of spending $60 on a 52t ring! Darn!

 

[jphipps]

i have the 2018 S40 model and cannot understand the mounting problem. the front DR stalk on my bike has an elongated mounting hole that results in 2+ cm of up/down to match the large chainwheel. the yaw DR is somewhat tricky to get aligned, as the adjustment is not up/down but a twist adjustment. one thing to consider is the double tap reach adjustment, which can lead to pushing the chain off the large chainwheel if not adjusted to your hand movement.

 

[Harry Spatz]

Yes, the S40 has an adjustable stalk, but it will not let the Yaw front derailleur go low enough for a 50 tooth chain ring. The up/down adjustment is important and the Yaw derailleur only has one mounting hole versus two for the older derailleurs. The hole for proper height above the 50 tooth chani ring does not exist.

 

[Karl42]

I just ordered the bikinGreen Adapter on ebay for the same purpose (of using a 46t chainring in the front). I'll report here how well it works.

 

[Harry Spatz]

I bought that bikinGreen 46/30T chairing front derailleur adapter and, based on SRAM documentation, it places the derailleur too low. It may work for 46/30T, but not for 50/34T. I do not own a YAW derailleur to actually test. I wonder if it is possible to drill and tap a hole above the existing one in the YAW derailleur to mimic the normal 10 speed derailleur that already has that hole. For now, I'm sticking with the non YAW derailleur and found I have very little side cage touching if I mount it with the tail out about 1/16" from parallel with the chain rings. It shifts flaelessly to the 34 tooth and acceptably to the 50 tooth.

 

[rdl03]

I have a Rival front derailleur mounted on the stock stalk. The shifting isn't as crisp as I'd like, but, at the very bottom of the stalk's range, successfully shifts with my 30-46 crank.
(The crank I'm using is a Sugino triple, using the inner and center chainring positions. Not sure if that makes a difference.).

 

[Harry Spatz]

I bought the SRAM YAW derailleur and when mounted as low as it would go, it will shift my 34/50 nearly perfectly. It is perhaps 4 or 5 mm higher than SRAM says it ought to be mounted, but it is still very good. When adjusted laterally according to SRAMs marks, it would overshift the big ring, so I angled the rear of the derailleur out perhaps 2 mm and that fixed that problem. There is no chain touch in any gear and if it were any lower, the chain would touch the top of the derailleur when in 50/42. I advise using an inline cable adjuster and make the cable as tight as possible when in the small ring, so it will pull as hard as possible when shifting to the big ring. Adjust the high adjustment in 1/16 turns to get it perfect.

 

[rdl03]

I'm also waiting for an adapter (forget the name at the moment - a company in Germany makes them), that allows for direct pull, rather than having the cable go around the pulley.
Have used that on two of my upright bikes for years now, and much prefer how it shifts.
That will give me an opportunity to add the inline adjuster.

 

[cpml123]

I bought the SRAM YAW derailleur and when mounted as low as it would go, it will shift my 34/50 nearly perfectly. It is perhaps 4 or 5 mm higher than SRAM says it ought to be mounted, but it is still very good. When adjusted laterally according to SRAMs marks, it would overshift the big ring, so I angled the rear of the derailleur out perhaps 2 mm and that fixed that problem. There is no chain touch in any gear and if it were any lower, the chain would touch the top of the derailleur when in 50/42. I advise using an inline cable adjuster and make the cable as tight as possible when in the small ring, so it will pull as hard as possible when shifting to the big ring. Adjust the high adjustment in 1/16 turns to get it perfect.

Oh man. Shifting outside the big ring was exactly the problem I had. I guess I should have tried different adjustment instead of putting a 52 ring on. Oh well!

 

[Steve Heywood]

I'm also waiting for an adapter (forget the name at the moment - a company in Germany makes them), that allows for direct pull, rather than having the cable go around the pulley.
Have used that on two of my upright bikes for years now, and much prefer how it shifts.
That will give me an opportunity to add the inline adjuster.

When you get the adaptor can you post the name of the company you used please

 

[rdl03]

When you get the adaptor can you post the name of the company you used please

speen* store

The product is called an "Umlenker". They make a bunch of different ones for different front derailleurs.
I've realized that to use this, I'm going to have to make an extension to the Cruzbike front derailleur stalk, so that there is a fixed point for cable tension that is pretty directly above the front derailleur.
If you interested, I'll post what I end up doing, and how well it works.

 

[Steve Heywood]

speen* store

The product is called an "Umlenker". They make a bunch of different ones for different front derailleurs.
I've realized that to use this, I'm going to have to make an extension to the Cruzbike front derailleur stalk, so that there is a fixed point for cable tension that is pretty directly above the front derailleur.
If you interested, I'll post what I end up doing, and how well it works.

 

[The Brook]

Has anyone tried the Wickwerks 34-53 chainrings with a Cruzbike? Their ramp style of moving to the big ring seems like it might work better that the pin setup of most chainrings.