Road STI shifter with MTB FD?

artemidorus said:

Does anyone have any experience with this? Can one simply muddle by (I expect not!). Is there something like a Travel Agent that will increase the cable throw? What about using a lowered road triple FD with an MTB 22/32/44?

Do you need gears this low? Are you plannning including Arden St in your commute or towing a large trailer?
Seriously, I don't have a clue but if you post this question on the tandem@hobbes list I'm sure someone will have tried this for a tandem.
FWIW we use Dura ace STI with an Ultegra fr derailleur and a XTR rear on our tandems. We have a 55/44/26 on one and a 53/39/26 on our touring tandem. We managed the Woodford to Glenbrook trail a few weeks ago with this gearing and road bars with STI and just made it up the hills with our heart rates maxed out.

Cheers

Geoff

artemidorus said:

Does anyone have any experience with this? Can one simply muddle by (I expect not!). Is there something like a Travel Agent that will increase the cable throw? What about using a lowered road triple FD with an MTB 22/32/44?

I've never tried that particular combination myself so maybe I should stay quiet, but the majority opinion is that STI won't shift a mountain front derailleur very well. I suspect that's true because Shimano says not to do it and because lots of folks have trouble getting STI triples set up even when all of the parts match. I do remember one poster a few months ago who said that he got it to work on his bike ao your mileage may vary.

The problem of using a road derailleur with the gear combination you mentioned is that the arc of the derailleur will be too big and the rear of the derailleur will be way up high off of the chainrings. It'll look goofy for sure and probably wond make the grannie gear shift very well.

How about using a barcon or a downtube shifter to operate the front derailleur?

artemidorus said:

Does anyone have any experience with this? Can one simply muddle by (I expect not!). Is there something like a Travel Agent that will increase the cable throw? What about using a lowered road triple FD with an MTB 22/32/44?

What are you trying to achieve?

There are forum posts by guys who have fitted drop bars with MTB combos, EF-29, 35, 50, and they worked.
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t286154.html

geoffs said:

Do you need gears this low?

Yes, I'm turning my old steel MTB into a touring bike. I aim to have a road cluster, ie 12-27.

Retro Grouch said:

The problem of using a road derailleur with the gear combination you mentioned is that the arc of the derailleur will be too big and the rear of the derailleur will be way up high off of the chainrings. It'll look goofy for sure and probably wond make the grannie gear shift very well.

How about using a barcon or a downtube shifter to operate the front derailleur?

I must confess - I know some of the answer to my own question: My partner's bike, at present, has road shifter and FD and a 22-44 MTB triple and it works, although not smoothly, and you wouldn't even know it wasn't matched unless you looked closely.
I'm not a retro-grouch 🙂 (at all) and I really like road STI shifters. I dislike downtube shifters and have never used bar end shifters. If I couldn't get it to work I'd probably put a flat-bar style shifter next to the stem.

gclark8 said:

What are you trying to achieve?

There are forum posts by guys who have fitted drop bars with MTB combos, EF-29, 35, 50, and they worked.
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t286154.html

To my mind, the ideal touring bike has drop bars, MTB front drivetrain and road rear drivetrain. Unfortunately, the component set manufacturers don't accommodate this vision (except for avid who make a nice cable disc brake for use with road levers.)
George, your link is to a thread where the poster used road shifter, road FD and road triple: it's not a surprise that this worked.