I am looking at a cheap second hand front derailleur to keep me going until I change my whole drivetrain over to 9 or 10 speed. Currently 8 speed.

I currently have a shimano Alivio but it will not work properly because I got the wrong chain stay angle. The chain rubs on the cage when using the granny ring (the cage is too high because of the wrong angle).

I need a mech for 63-66 chain stay angle.

I am looking at an Acera FD-360. The shimano specs say the chainstay angle of this model is 63-66, 66-69.

Does that mean it does that whole range? Or there are 2 different models? One for 63-66 and another for 66-69??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am struggling to find a cheap front mech for 34.9 tube, top pull, 63-66 angle for 8 speed.

Can’t you tweak the set-up to make it work better?

Check out the shimano website or techdocs, one should answer your Q.

Aren’t 9 speed compatible?

Hi Cynic-al, the tech docs are what confused me in the first place. They say the particular front mech is “63-66, 66-69”. I don’t know if it means the mech covers both ranges…… Or if there are separate models??

Unfortunately I can’t tweak it to work. If I lower the height of the front mech enough so that the chain doesn’t drag on the cage (while using the granny), then I can’t shift onto the large front ring because the cage is too low and hits the big ring. If I raise the mech so it can shift to the large ring, then I can’t use the granny because the chain drags on the cage.

I will probably leave it so I can use the granny but not the large front ring. Never use it anyway.

“Aren’t 9 speed compatible?”

I didn’t think 9 speed front derailleurs worked perfectly with 8 speed chains??

But it might just work well enough…… Considering I plan to switch to 9 speed soon anyway.

Could you put a 26t granny ring on rather than a 22t?

I currently have a shimano Alivio but it will not work properly because I got the wrong chain stay angle

Something doesn’t make sense here. The front Mech usually won’t work because the pivots have worn so much there is a tonne of play in it, or that the whole thing has seized up. Front mechs are a bit of a nightmare to setup until you learn how to do it.

I don’t understand what the chain stay angle means of has to do with the front mech. The chainline needs to be correct but so long as you have the right bottom bracket in then you shouldn’t need to worry about that.

You set the mech height according to the big ring. It needs to be so you can fit a penny between the mech and the large ring (without chain). Then set the angle so that it’s parallel to the chain when in the outermost chainring and socket (Big-little). Then make sure the limit adjusters are set correctly (push by hand to make sure you’re getting full motion). Finally set cable and adjust tension. Then tweek slightly as riding under pressure it often needs a bit more help.

The park tools website is really easy to understand so try googling that.

Thanks traildog.
My initial post wasn’t clear. The Alivio front derailleur I have at the moment is brand new. There is nothing wrong with the pivots etc.

Shimano front derailleurs come with a specified chain stay angle. Usually either 63-66 or 66-69. This is the angle between the chainstay and the seat/down tube. Because the front derailleur clamps onto the seat tube, this angle is very important for proper setup of the derailleur. 63-66 is typically for handrails and 66-69 is for full sus where the chainstay angle is greater because of how the bottom bracket is positioned etc etc.

If u use a 66-69 derailleur on a hardtail with a much small chainstay angle, you can have problems because the vertical angle of the derailleur cage will be wrong. It’s kind of hard to explain. But that is why front derailleurs come with a specifies angle. I learned this the hard way and now can it use my Alivio derailleur.

On many bikes you might be as to get it to work if the angles arent too far out.