As the happy owner of an Arkose 3 I picked up some WTB Nano 40c tyres recently to make the offroad parts of my commute more fun. It works. Sort of.

I assumed that they would be OK as Pinnacle spec them on some of the Arkose models, but I’m getting really bad rub on the tyre from the front mech lever arm.

It seems odd that Shimano fixed a problem that didn’t exist by making a mech that reduces clearance for bigger tyres or mud guards…..and even odder for Pinnacle to spec it on a bike supposedly with clearance for both.

Are there any front mechs that don’t have the bloody great waggly arm to foul on everything that will work with my 5800 series shifters? Please?

Bump for the morning crowd?

No, as the cable pull was changed for the long arm front mechs, so you’re stuck with using a shimano 11 speed 5800/6800/9000 front mech

Similar problem here on my croix running the new 5800 11 speed groupset.

Managed to squeeze a 42mm in the rear but I needed to flip the cable retention bolt to the other side of the deraileur arm…. Not ideal as there is no channel for cable to run in and does alter pull ratio a tad but works fine.

Even running 35s with guards I found the arm would foul so needed to dremel out a slot for the arm to sit into.

Ultimate solution is go 1×11 I guess.

I assumed that they would be OK as Pinnacle spec them on some of the Arkose models, but I’m getting really bad rub on the tyre from the front mech lever arm.

We only used Nanos on 1x or SS models. The 11s FD arm length is a PITA. Smoother shifting yes but at the expense of clearance.

I’ve had Nanos on the Arkose with 11s FDs though, there’s clearance but it’s a point pick-up for grassy mud. Will need to look up a pic I took of the clearance. ~5-7mm edge to tread from memory.

Check the tyre seating, wheel and mech alignment maybe? The FD may not be in line with the rings / bb edge.

That’s on an FSA chainset with road chainline, if the mech had to come over any further for a wider chainline outer ring it would be too close.

Yeah looks plenty of clearance there jameso…. Maybe worth checking high limits on front deraileur. Because of the trim function on the sti’s the throw of the mech is pretty large… I have mine set up so it just about shifts in the first trim position but a bit of resistance is felt in the second. That way the long arm only travels just enough to make a shift if that makes sense.

Cheers all (esp Jameso).

My clearance is nowhere near that big! I’ll check the trim later but I had to rotate the mech out slightly to stop it buzzing constantly. Wheels are true and everything else is stock. I guess I could redish the wheel but that seems a bit drastic.

Maybe it is just everything is at the limits of tolerance.

Will try Doncorleonis suggestion too.

Maybe Shimano will bring out a version that works within the constraints of modern design next year. I struggle to see why they need to have an arm that long and then have the cable fix ~1cm in from the end. All of the possible problems with having a shorter arm but same leverage could easily be solved.

Thanks again,

S

DonC is right, make sure it’s not overshifting via the limit screws and also that the cable enters in the right part of the mech, seen a few new bikes from some brands -particularly 2015 bikes- where the cable enters the mech on the wrong side (inc ours). That messes with cable pull and may mean the arm needs to come over too far.

Setting up Shimano 11s FDs is complex, there’s a converter built in and all sorts of checks and faff. PM me and I’ll send you the PDF to check it’s set up OK.

Also check the wheel is aligned in the frame, eg sight from the stem cap to the seat tube to see if the wheel is central to the seat tube. It may be a couple of mm either way but shouldn’t be more than that. If it’s off to the drive-side some Park dropout alignment tools can be a useful check.