Stubby Front Derailleur with a triple crank?

[Rod Holland]

I'm wondering if the Stubby Skeleton Key front derailleur offered by Riv will work with triple cranks and shifters? 3x9, hopefully. 3x10? If it will work with a triple, any guidelines for success-prone configurations?

This isn't directly addressed in the product copy on the Riv site, except "This will work with all Silver cranks."

rod

[Wesley]

The product photos show it on a triple, but I have no first-hand experience with it.

-W

[Garth]

They wouldn't call it a "Skeleton Key" if it didn't work with what they sell. Though the specs say it's for 2x https://www.microshift.com/models/fd-m462/ , that doesn't mean it can't shift a 3x as those specs are hard limitations, they are "suggestions" based on what type of crank they "assume" it would be used for. Well, those assumptions do not apply to the real world of creativity. If in doubt, call Riv. Don't email, email stuff gets lost and misplaced all the time then the emailer thinks they've been ignored when it's all those darn "filters".

[Bill Lindsay]

Rod

If I wanted to make the skeleton key FD work with a triple, I'd run a 44/34/24 crankset, and a friction shifter.  I'm pretty confident that would work.  

Whatever delta there is between your largest chainring and your smallest chainring, the bigger that delta, the less likely it will work to your liking.  I would not bet on it working with an indexed front shifter.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

On Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at 12:19:54 PM UTC-7 Rod Holland wrote:

[John Hawrylak]

Ron & others

The RBW Skeleton Key looks very much like a MicroShift MarvoFD, see MicroShift link 

Marvo Front Derailleur 2x9 | microSHIFT

same funky 48.8mm front chain line & 14T capacity.   The RBW picture even shows the word 'Microshift' on the clamp band!!!

So it may or may not work.   the capacity is low and Microshift states it is 2x9 while RBW is silent on it.   One possible problem; the FD may not have enough inward swing to shift to the granny if you are using a 43 or 45mm front chainline, since is is designed for a 49mm front chain line.

I would buy the cheaper Microsift if I was going to experiment.

[Rod Holland]

Thanks, Bill. Friction it is. And reasonable ambitions for how the pie is to be sliced.

rod

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[lconley]

A lot of hand wringing and worry over a simple front derailleur - don't over think it. Front derailleurs with flat cage plates are extremely versatile. An ancient Campagnolo Nuovo Record "racing" double derailleur from the seventies (pretty much the same design as in the sixties) will shift almost anything you can throw at it. It was standard equipment on my P-15 Paramount and had no problem with the 52-42-36 triple that also was also standard (other years of P-15s used 54-46-36 and 53-49-36, etc. with the same derailleur, note that these bikes used Shimano rear derailleurs) If the cage clears the chain stay, I have no doubt that it would shift a 44-34-24 triple today. The skeleton key derailleur that Riv is selling will probably work on anything that Riv sells with almost any crank setup as long as you don't get stupid with BB widths. There is always more travel than needed built into the the derailleurs - thus the existence of travel limiting screws. The stubby cage will clear the chain stays with compact cranks and low bottom brackets. The only thing that the stubby cage will not deal with is too great of a small-big chainwheel difference, but I have never actually had that problem with any derailleur on any bicycle. That said, I never use derailleurs that require adapters or shims any more, so it is unlikely that I would use one. Less parts = greater reliability. If it were available in 28.6 and 31.8 diameters and was all silver, then it would be another matter.

Time to get back to grinding/filing a small recess in the clamp of my NOS 31.8 Dura-Ace 7800 front derailleur to clear the water bottle mount reinforcement on my custom.

Laing

Delray Beach FL