These Components Are Disappearing...Get Them While You Can

Guide for derailleur selection for wide range sub compacts.

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[BrasssMunky]

All of the Sheldon Brown-esque content is the best content. People need to talk more about alternative cycling setups :)

[robbchastain]

Still rockin' a 3x7 on my metal-frame 26" commuter. And no, I won't be removing my front derailleur because shifting doesn't freak me out. 😀

[JonPrevost]

I don't know if this is the first time you explained the sub-compact as a 1x with a bail-out but that is a perfect explanation. Every gravel bike that wants to do double duty as a trekking machine should have that crankset. Very good video!

[pN]

Love that your chanel shows honestly well worn, well riden components. Nothing sexier than beautifully made durability.

[elliott]

Cut-up strips of beer can also make great shims. I've done it for handlebars with great success.

[anthonidanowski]

still riding triples here! i find them fun to setup. usually not very difficult at all. especially if your running a friction shifter.

[beggknivesofficial]

Friction makes so much sense if your not competitive cycling. I love your views on this. It’s so utilitarian.

[TheHyacinth]

Worth noting FDs come in 2 flavours: 63-66 degree and 66-69 degree. This tells you which chainstay angle they fit. 63 is 'road' style 66 is MTB. It makes a difference in getting the FD to clear the chainstay on the smallest ring.

[racer-vlcj]

Look at the Shimano XT 2-11 front derailleurs on the big auction site. Under $10 and work great for 28/38 chainrings. The 11-46 cassette works great with the 11 speed Shimano SLX or XT GS derailleurs. I am running 28/38 and 11-42 11 speed on one bike and a 11-42 with a 24/36 11 speed another bike. Both with 11 speed chains. Russ, keep up the excellent work!

[Mattebodra]

In order to clamp bigger front derailleurs to smaller tubes, you can also cut a pvc pipe section and clamp it there as a shim. Works brilliantly

[newttella]

Excellent explanation of all the issues that come with a front derailleur. Once setup, front derailleurs are nice to have for both the range and the bail out on steep climbs. I also like it as a chain guide as 1x can drop a chain on the washer board roads. If you have lots of middle aged mountain bike friends, you can source a front derailleur for a six pack of beer.

[garykaunang]

Nice article! I've been looking for this. Well, I reuse a 44-33-22 Sram GXP triple chainring set (104/64 BCD with GXP spider). Take middle chainring 33T out and put 44T there. Then replace inner 22T (64 BCD) with readily available 28T ring. The spider is compatible with any GXP crank arm. So, I install it with 160mm China made hollowtech GXP crank arm. The 44-28T works well with Tiagra front.

[overbikedrandonneuring]

Love this! IIRC, my old 44/28 setup used a 105 road triple shifter to get the pull needed for an SLX front derailleur. Clunky, but not a big deal with the small ring being a bailout gear. Tiagra/GRX 400 rear derailleurs have recently had 2 tooth higher max cog size than 105 and up models. Miss the days when MTB and Road cable pulls were compatible.

[robertwyland]

Thanks for doing this series on cranksets and front derailleurs. This has been a source of frustration for me to find combos that work. On my road bike I installed a mountain double 38-26. I had to make an adapter to not only move my derailleur down ( bike had braze on mount) but also out about 4 mm as the crank outer ring was too far out. Pain to get there but it's the 1st time I recall actually having gears ( 26-34) low enough to make me happy.

[josh]

Another FD you can consider is SRAM's 10sp 2X MTB group.
SRAM came out with MTB cranksets that were 42/28, 39/26, and 36/24 and front/rear derailleurs to support these 2X groups.
So in terms of an actual "plug-in-play" legit groupset that was meant to work together, this is a possibility.

If you can't get your hands on a crankset to build this, any 4 bolt 104/64 will accommodate the rings.
Also, you don't necessarily have to use the 10sp group either, but it does have it's perks. The mechanical road and MTB both have the same pull ratio in 10sp, so you can mix Red/Force/Rival or Apex 10sp brake-shifters with SRAM XX1, XO, or X9 rear derailleurs. The only mod is that you need an inline barrel adjuster on the RD as the MTB RDs don't have one. The Jagwire Mini In-Line cable adjusters are pretty good and can be slid right into the RD.

Also regardless of brand, FD's generally have the same pull ratio so no problems mixing Shimano (or Shimano variant) and SRAM.

[snafuoo]

I’ve been running a Shimano MTB rear derailleur with 11-42 rear and 46-34 front double and it’s got a front derailleur from a co-op so, going by the labels only, it’s a Shimano 105. It’s been fun to figure out everything but it seems to be doing good now. I had to replace the B screw on the derailleur a long time ago when it was still 1x. This thing has seen sloppy snow rides, too much mud, and I rode a cyclocross course with it loaded up with gear so it’s handling things well.

I’ve actually used a lot of info from your videos and so much reading of fine print in product manuals to get this to work so far. So, basically, thank you!

[quillaja]

I put GRX 11spd on my bike last year (with 105 shifters). 46/30 front and 42/11 rear (with a braze-on extender on FD, and goatlink on RD) on my "gravel" tires. Works perfectly. On my normal road tires is a 34/11 cassette, and I can swap back and forth without having to mess with the indexing much.

[rolfaalto]

Excellent coverage of some great components. On my quality bikes I've run everything from 7x to 12x, and have come to the conclusion that Shimano 9x is the best, especially for a 3x front setup. Running 2x upfront there are benefits to the larger cassettes for 10x and 11x, but they tend to get really fussy and unreliable as the spacing diminishes.

[dennisfloyd]

I can see your point regarding front derailleurs and if I was on the road more I might have 2x systems but I just love the ease of 1x.

Love your channel, and love your ability to think outside the box or in this case hold onto old standers that still work amazingly well. Keep up the great work and content.

[.Rooster]

Your comment about the truck transmission is so valuable here. So, if you're going to have ranges then you are going to have learn how to shift. Skip the wide range cassette at the rear and clutches. Run a tripple up front. Sometimes you have to double shift to achieve your cadence.