front mechs and shifters are compatible aren't they? so my shimano ultegra road shifter will work with any front mech?
Not really.
Newer Shimano groupsets including Ultegra 6700 shifters have a different cable pull to older ones, and aren't cross compatible. I'd not like to speculate which ratio SRAM use, if it's either. But to be honest I'd just buy Shimano, no real reason to mix, particularly as Sram front mechs, notably Red, are a bit crap.
cheers njee. thats my problem. i've got 5600 ultegra shifters, but all I can get shimano wise for a front mech is 6700, which isn't compatible. so i was thinking of buying a campag front mech
Sort of...
In some (most actually IME) instances...
It's certainly easier just to get matching stuff though.
It should work I have done it in the past with old 9 speed dura ace. I have got campag chorus shifters with a 105 front mech at the moment which works ace. The campag shifters do have smaller and more index's.
so i'm thinking get a centaur or athena front mech, it should be ok with an older ultegra shifter... one way to find out..