Anyone else have a nightmare setting up front derailures…?!!

105 R7000
What is the trick to setting this bastard mech?

I can feel the four steps at the lever…. Low trim, low, high trim, high. But once the cable is fixed to the mech in only getting high and low. It’ll shift from low to high, but only with the chain rubbing when on the small ring without a 0,5mm gap.

Really painful.

GF’s Tiagra equipped bike is a POP (piece of piss) to set up.

Hate to say it…RTFM. The new style front mechs have a little indicator on for setting the correct cable tension, it doesn’t take much and too much tension will stop it from working properly.

Recently set up the same one on a road bike after a good 18 years or so of not having one on any of my bikes.

Took me three days of messing before i realised i wasn’t throwing the lever far enough to shift up. After I’d figured that bit out it wasnt too bad. I didn’t find the manual too bad but also not great either.

Not as much as spelling them.

Front or rear set up, it’s a dark art as far as I’m concerned.

Another RTFM from me. Spent ages wondering why the ultegra mech on my winter bike was so crap. Read the manual, and there’s a weird step with limit screws and now it’s spot on.

Literally the easiest one to do if you follow instructions.

Tight cable

Into top gear

Sub click

Cable tension to line up lines

Then high/low .5mm from chain in big/small done

there’s a weird step with limit screws and now it’s spot on.

Yup.

Found this…..

Installation Guide for Shimano Front Derailleurs

Put everything away and will look again tomorrow….or wait till Tuesday and cruise down the valley to a shop and let them set it up with new outers.

I’ve done a couple of these. Follow the instructions exactly as written and they are ok.

I’m okay generally okay with MTB mechs. but setting up the GRX 400 front mech. has been a nightmare (partly because Trim was something new & I kept thinking that, somehow, the adjustment was out of wack when in reality I should have been in a different mech. position).

Something that I have discovered is that I was tensioning the cable before securing it by pulling it through & away from the mech which (unless the cable was dead straight) could result in the top part of the mech. (where the cable secures) being moved forward & throwing things out. Wrapping the cable through its full routing and pulling from the back has helped.

As it stands though I still can’t eliminate all rubbing at the extremes in the big ring (the small ring is fine). With my 3×10 mountain bike mech. it’s all a lot easier.

We had a nightmare with a brand new GRX400 a couple of months ago.

Pal had fitted it and turned up for a weekends riding. We spent a couple of hours trying, including much googling to find the correct way to set up. Even a local bike hire place was rather mystified.

We eventually got it working in a fashion…

What’s a front derailleur? ?

But on the road bike with an ultegra 11spd it was essential to RTFM, as v different cable track. There’s also a funny nubbin on some fd from shimano that needs to be in the right setting, might only be a millimeter between on of off, but makes all the difference

Got it!

It works!

Hallelujah!

Was on the brink of thinking to go 1x….

That cycling obsession article is very good, a much better explanation than what’s in the Shimano manual

What it doesn’t mention, or if it does then I missed it, the “frame support screw and protection plate” business only applies to the braze on version, not clamp version

Made me go back and check mine though!