Front Ring Shifting Under Load

Martin <[email hidden]> spoke thusly...

Quoted message said:

Hi Everyone

I usually lurk here but have a question that someone may be able to answer.

A couple of years ago I put together my Superlight, including XT cranks, XT front deraillier and
XTR shifers. At that time I could pretty much shift at any time (including uphill under load) from
the middle to granny.

About 6 months ago front shifting became problemetic, after changing the chain and adjusting the
heck out of it to no end, I tried changing:

1) Front deraillieur
2) Middle and small chainrings to Blackspire Pro's
3) Cables

Still problems. Almost seems like the shifter doesn't have enough range. Before I fork out more
cash, anyone got any suggestions? Do shifers wear out by loosing range (unlikely)?

Thanks in advance

Martin

IMO, it could be the following.

frame flex toasted BB (allowing the BB shaft to tip when you pedal)

the first can't really be fixed i don't think. the second can be fixed by either tightening the ball
cups (if equipped), or replacing the BB.
--
~Travis

megalink.net~farmersOpen ↗

Martin said:

Hi Everyone

I usually lurk here but have a question that someone may be able to answer.

A couple of years ago I put together my Superlight, including XT cranks, XT front deraillier and
XTR shifers. At that time I could pretty much shift at any time (including uphill under load) from
the middle to granny.

About 6 months ago front shifting became problemetic, after changing the chain and adjusting the
heck out of it to no end, I tried changing:

1) Front deraillieur
2) Middle and small chainrings to Blackspire Pro's
3) Cables

Still problems. Almost seems like the shifter doesn't have enough range. Before I fork out more
cash, anyone got any suggestions? Do shifers wear out by loosing range (unlikely)?

Thanks in advance

Martin

Downshifting up front underload puts a premium on your front derailuer spring to overcome the chain
tension. If your front derailuer has some age and plenty of use under its belt your springs could be
getting a little weak. You may want to try taking it off the bike and give a deep cleaning and
relube. Might make a difference with the spring.

Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Martin said:

Hi Everyone

I usually lurk here but have a question that someone may be able to answer.

A couple of years ago I put together my Superlight, including XT cranks, XT front deraillier and
XTR shifers. At that time I could pretty much shift at any time (including uphill under load)
from the middle to granny.

About 6 months ago front shifting became problemetic, after changing the chain and adjusting the
heck out of it to no end, I tried changing:

1) Front deraillieur
2) Middle and small chainrings to Blackspire Pro's
3) Cables

Still problems. Almost seems like the shifter doesn't have enough range. Before I fork out more
cash, anyone got any suggestions? Do shifers wear out by loosing range (unlikely)?

Thanks in advance

Martin

Downshifting up front underload puts a premium on your front derailuer spring to overcome the
chain tension. If your front derailuer has some age and plenty of use under its belt your springs
could be getting a little weak. You may want to try taking it off the bike and give a deep
cleaning and relube. Might make a difference with the spring.

Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com

Thanks everyone, I will persevere here, it's getting annoying to be pushing on steep climbs when the
chain won't shift! Hopefully it isn't frame flex!

Martin

Martin

Martin said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Martin said:

Hi Everyone

I usually lurk here but have a question that someone may be able to answer.

A couple of years ago I put together my Superlight, including XT cranks, XT front deraillier and
XTR shifers. At that time I could pretty much shift at any time (including uphill under load)
from the middle to granny.

About 6 months ago front shifting became problemetic, after changing the chain and adjusting the
heck out of it to no end, I tried changing:

1) Front deraillieur
2) Middle and small chainrings to Blackspire Pro's
3) Cables

Still problems. Almost seems like the shifter doesn't have enough range. Before I fork out more
cash, anyone got any suggestions? Do shifers wear out by loosing range (unlikely)?

Thanks in advance

Martin

Downshifting up front underload puts a premium on your front derailuer spring to overcome the
chain tension. If your front derailuer has some age and plenty of use under its belt your springs
could be getting a little weak. You may want to try taking it off the bike and give a deep
cleaning and relube. Might make a difference with the spring.

Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com

Thanks everyone, I will persevere here, it's getting annoying to be pushing on steep climbs when
the chain won't shift! Hopefully it isn't frame flex!

I have that problem off and on -- I blame it on the fact that I run a 20 tooth granny. I find it's
usually one of 2 things (although the spring getting old that someone mentioned could be a third
that I'm going to look into).

1. Is the front DR set properly. It should be close to the big chain ring (1-3 mm above it) and when
in the outer cogs front and back, the outer part of the cage that overlaps the chain should be
parallel to the chain.

2. Some chains and some rings just don't shift that well up front until thery're good and
broken-in. The rings that I've had initial problems with that break-in to shift better are Race
Face; the chains are SRAM. I have the opposite problem with Shiman -- they start shifting fine,
but stop up-shifting after they break-in. What I do in the mean time is to bias shifting to get
my downshift (cable tension and limit screw), and do a shift-and a nudge to get it to upshift.
I also plan my shifts ahead so that I'm not in the situation of needing to downshift the CRs on
a climb 🙂.

David

Martin said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Martin said:

Hi Everyone

I usually lurk here but have a question that someone may be able to answer.

A couple of years ago I put together my Superlight, including XT cranks, XT front deraillier and
XTR shifers. At that time I could pretty much shift at any time (including uphill under load)
from the middle to granny.

About 6 months ago front shifting became problemetic, after changing the chain and adjusting the
heck out of it to no end, I tried changing:

1) Front deraillieur
2) Middle and small chainrings to Blackspire Pro's
3) Cables

Still problems. Almost seems like the shifter doesn't have enough range. Before I fork out more
cash, anyone got any suggestions? Do shifers wear out by loosing range (unlikely)?

Thanks in advance

Martin

Downshifting up front underload puts a premium on your front derailuer spring to overcome the
chain tension. If your front derailuer has some age and plenty of use under its belt your springs
could be getting a little weak. You may want to try taking it off the bike and give a deep
cleaning and relube. Might make a difference with the spring.

Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com

Thanks everyone, I will persevere here, it's getting annoying to be pushing on steep climbs when
the chain won't shift! Hopefully it isn't frame flex!

One other thing that I didn't see mentioned and forgot to mention in my post -- I'd replace the
cable and housings and lube the heck out of the DR (wiping off the excess 🙂)!

David