ISO/Recommendation: help me select a 9-speed triple front derailleur

[Todd G]

I’m looking for a recommendation for a clamp on 9-speed triple front derailleur for a Toyo built Atlantis. I’m currently running an old 9-speed LX front derailleur that shifts beautifully. I recently purchased some VO fenders and got them installed pretty easily. The only issue that I’m having is that while shifting, the long/tall arm of the front derailleur wants to move into the front fender as I shift into the small ring.

To help remedy the situation, I swapped out the stock derailleur cable clamp bolt and washer for low profile Panhead screw, which got me a little real estate (image #1). In conjunction with the clamp bolt, I shimmed out the bottom of the fender at the chain stay bridge with an 11mm alloy spacer and a leather washer on either side to help push it away from the derailleur arm (image #3). This set up works in the stand, and the fender line is pretty good. With that said, my main concern at this point is that I’ve now pushed the bottom of the fender closer to the rear wheel. At the chain stay bridge, I used a stainless M5 bolt, but want to replace this with a low profile Panhead bolt as well, as there isn’t much space between the bolt head and the tire. “Not much space” translates to about 3-4mm or so, which it too close for my taste. So, if I were to install a Panhead bolt at the chain stay bridge I could probably call it good. So yeah, this setup will work as is, but I feel like I can get the rear set up pretty close to perfect if I were to just swap out the derailleur.

[Todd G]

Continuation from above...

With that said, can anyone recommend a nice 9-speed triple front derailleur that doesn’t require as much space for the arm to actuate? I think that if I were to replace the derailleur with a derailleur that doesn’t require as much real estate, this would possibly solve all issues. Then I could run a smaller spacer at the chain stay bridge and get much better clearance between the bolt and rear tire.

Thanks for reading this far! Hope that made sense to someone other than myself.

[Todd G]

Link to images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ft4S7XXqfUA9bcX

[Todd G]

Link to photos

On Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 11:29:37 PM UTC-8 Todd G wrote:

Link to images: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ft4S7XXqfUA9bcX

[Garth]

Without actually being there to see how much it hits, my first thought is depending how much it hits, to dimple the fender in that spot.... that's only "if" it's but a few mm's. Otherwise, most Microshift FD,s like the R539 use a relatively shorter swing arm than most. It's designed for large road rings though, so the arc may or may not work for you.

https://www.jensonusa.com/globalassets/product-images---all-assets/microshift/fd196b02.jpg

All the stubby mtb Shimano/Microshift styles are designed completely different and don't get in the way, but they are designed for 42/44t rings. If that works for try one of those. 

[lconley]

IRD Alpina

Laing

[jamin orrall]

A cx-70 may work for you, it shifts a triple perfectly for me and doesn't seem to swing too much.

[Peter White]

The IRD Alpina is a clone of the Ultegra 9 speed triple FD. It's a braze-on so you'll need an adapter. It's a terrific derailleur. Best to use it with a 10 tooth difference between the outer and middle chainrings. On my Rambouillet, I have 48-38-20 teeth rings on a Zephyr crank and the shifting is perfect. Mine is the Ultegra version from about 23 years ago. Should I ever wear it out I'll replace it with the IRD. The only difference I can detect is the name.

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Peter White

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

I don't know if there's a front derailleur to fix the clearance issue, but looking at your photo from above, it looks like you need some more clearance between your big ring and your chainstay. 

A wider bottom bracket would fix everything, I think?

-Kai

[J Imler]

I agree with Kai.

[Todd G]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I thought about modifying the fender to get that extra space, but would rather spend money to fix the problem, hahaha! Joking aside I’d definitely prefer to just run parts that work well for the job at hand. If that means swapping stuff out, then so be it.

I’ll definitely look into the derailleurs mentioned above. With that said, if anyone has a derailleur laying around let me know. I wouldn’t have a strong preference to one over the next, however if one pops up that’s clamp on vs. a braze on, I’d prefer to go that route, but not a deal breaker if I need to get an adapter.

@ Kai, based on those photos you’d be absolutely right, but there’s about 5-6mm of space between the chainring and the chainstay. It’s just the angle of the photo that makes it look like it hates the chainstay!

@ Peter, if nothing pops up here I’ll give you a ring!

Also, sorry for the long winded post above. I wanted to provide info in hopes that maybe this can help someone with a similar issue down the line.

[Pat Smith]

I may have to try that IRD FD. I've never been happy with the shifting on my triple 9 speed Tiagra 4503 and XT mullet build. I started with brifters and later moved to drop bar with the nice XTR trigger shifters. Bike is a Jamis Aurora Elite with long chainstays, which I assume would make shifting better. Tiagra 50/39/30 triple up front and 9 speed 11/34 cassette in the rear. A Shimano (M772 maybe?) Deore XT shadow RD and Tiagra FD. No matter what I get chain rub even with trimming and I find I have to increase cable tension too much to get consistent shifting into larger cogs which sometimes misses on down shifts. I've had my hanger checked for alignment and it's just something I've learned to live with.

Pat in DC