Front Derailure?

vrbuzard said:

Hey all

it looks like my front derailure is going bad. Does anyone have suggestions for a replacement? Whats the difference between Top Swing and Bottom Swing? is there a difference?

I ride a Marin Bear Trail, but all my riding is in the city. No mountains in Chicago

any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Replace it with the same type "swing" you currently have on the bike, which simply relates to cable routing:
Top swing = cable comes from the top of the bike.
Bottom swing = cable comes from the bottom of the bike.

For a replacement, I'd say Shimano Deore, LX, or XT depending on your budget.

***EDIT***
What I wrote above actually relates to top pull or bottom pull which can be found on top swing and bottom swing derailleurs.😕
See if Sheldon Brown can explain it better than myself:
sheldonbrown.comgloss ta o.htmlOpen ↗

Scotty_Dog said:

Replace it with the same type "swing" you currently have on the bike, which simply relates to cable routing:
Top swing = cable comes from the top of the bike.
Bottom swing = cable comes from the bottom of the bike.

For a replacement, I'd say Shimano Deore, LX, or XT depending on your budget.

***EDIT***
What I wrote above actually relates to top pull or bottom pull which can be found on top swing and bottom swing derailleurs.😕
See if Sheldon Brown can explain it better than myself:
sheldonbrown.comgloss ta o.htmlOpen ↗

Thanks
I just priced both of those at Performace Bike and eitherway it's $20 to $25, I was willing to go double that, but if it's not needed, then why spend the money

Scotty_Dog said:

Replace it with the same type "swing" you currently have on the bike, which simply relates to cable routing:
Top swing = cable comes from the top of the bike.
Bottom swing = cable comes from the bottom of the bike.

For a replacement, I'd say Shimano Deore, LX, or XT depending on your budget.

***EDIT***
What I wrote above actually relates to top pull or bottom pull which can be found on top swing and bottom swing derailleurs.😕
See if Sheldon Brown can explain it better than myself:
sheldonbrown.comgloss ta o.htmlOpen ↗

top and bottom swing are where the derallieur cage swings in relation to where it clamps for example if you look at the SRAM X-Gen derallieur (good example as it only comes in bottom swing) its both top or bottom pull (cable can be mounted eitehr way) and its bottom swing.

IF your bike will take either top or bottom swing (make sure theres noting in the way eg bottle cage mounts) i dunno for shimano dont think theres too much difference, i dont really know though as i dont use it. i would go with whatever you had previously, no complications that way 😄