front derailleur compatability between sram/shimano/campy

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

speedwobbles
Posts: 206
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:12 pm
Location: seattle wa

by speedwobbles

i just broke my 07 rival front derailleur on a ride today. the clamp slipped while downshifting and the cage got torn as it caught on the big ring. i was never very happy with the shift quality up font anyways, so now i am looking to replace it with something different. my options are DA 7800 (known to work), DA 7900 (questionable - cable pull is closer to sram, but leverage ratio is very different, and cage is wider), or Record 08 (also known to work, although i am not sure how well). this will be matched with an 07 rival shifter for now, but i will be replacing those with Red in the future. this is my rain bike, but i drive it hard and take it on fast group rides through the winter and spring, so i want it to perform as best as possible. anybody running any of these combos/ able to comment on the shift quality? any advice much appreciated - i'm a mechanic myself, but i don't want to spend the money to try each of these combos.

User avatar
Frankie - B
Admin - In the industry
Posts: 6573
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 8:17 am
Location: Drenthe, Holland

by Frankie - B

Speed, I ride a sram force setup with record front mech. It works flawless.

[IMHO you can mix and match all front mechs of all manufacturers without trouble. cycling isn't rocket science.]
'Tape was made to wrap your GF's gifts, NOT hold a freakin tire on.'
If you want to see 'meh' content of me and my bike you can follow my life in pictures here!

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Leon
Posts: 363
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:10 am
Location: On the road

by Leon

Same here, i had an Ultegra FD with Red shifters, worked 100%. Now i have a Record FD which also works 100%.
Ride bikes, not tanks!

orval2
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:33 pm

by orval2

Hi,

I have some Sram Force levers.

I have used them with :

- Sram Rival front dérailleur (same as the Force)
- Dura-Ace 7700
- Campagnolo Record CT and normal one.

The D-A was with the SRam were the easiest to set. The D-A works very well.
Now I use a Record one for the look. It is working very fine too but it was more difficult to tune. You have to be sure you tight the cable enough.
A member of Veloptimal wasn't able to set a campy record front derailleur with a Sram force lever set.
Better you know

Renaud

Raxel
Posts: 1037
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:41 pm

by Raxel

Campy QS FD and non-QS FD have different arm length. I've heard QS FD work fine with sram shifters.

User avatar
dwaharvey
Posts: 470
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: USA

by dwaharvey

I have Sram Red with a Campy FD on one of my bikes. At the time I installed Red, I had both a QS and a non-QS Record FD lying around and tried both. My experience was the opposite of what Raxel reported: I found that the longer lever arm of the QS FD meant that the cage did not travel far enough to shift properly and avoid chain rub. The regular (pre-QS) Record FD works fine for me, though the setup was definitely a little more finicky (with cable tension) than with the regular Red FD that I have on my other bike.

speedwobbles
Posts: 206
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:12 pm
Location: seattle wa

by speedwobbles

thanks for the feedback guys. so basically, they all work if you take the time to set them up. i guess the real question is: does any setup work better than the stock sram front derailleur? i was kind of hoping that the new DA would just happen to work flawlessly, solving all the slowness of the 07 front shifting. i also really like the look of the record, as eventually this setup will work its way over to my carbon bike once i switch to the Red group. any of these options will also save me 10g or more over rival.
@ frankie-b, orval, dwaharvey - did you notice that it took more cable tension to set up the campy front derailleur than the sram one? my rival front der is finicky enough as it is, and i would rather not switch to a setup that takes even more re-tuning as time goes on.

mdeth1313
Posts: 2066
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:38 am
Location: Dutchess County, NY

by mdeth1313

I was using sram force w/ a campy chorus FD and then switched to Red and kept the same FD. I had a force FD that I used first and I thought it absolutely sucked compared to the chorus - not to mention it weighed about 25g more than the chorus FD (the chorus is tuned a bit). I've had no issues w/ cable tension, etc. Set it and forget it.

BK
Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:48 pm
Location: Oregon

by BK

SW,

I was never satisfied with the front shifting on my Red equipped bike so I recently switched to a Dura Ace front derailuer. In my opinion, Red works MUCH better with a shimano front D.

bk

Leon
Posts: 363
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:10 am
Location: On the road

by Leon

For your info, i use a NON QS Record FD also.
Ride bikes, not tanks!

User avatar
dwaharvey
Posts: 470
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: USA

by dwaharvey

@speedwobbles: To be honest I'm not sure how people manage to get the QS Record derailleurs to work well because the lever arm is substantially longer than Red's. The non-QS derailleur lever arm is still a little longer, but provided you have good cable tension (with the low limit screw in as far as possible without causing little-ring-big-cog chain rub) then it works very well. Once I had mine set up, I haven't had to touch it in 3 months or so. It shifts every bit as well as the Red FD on my other bike.

User avatar
Gearjunkie
Posts: 877
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:17 am
Location: NZ

by Gearjunkie

I've been thinking of trying a DA 7900 FD with Red shifters. Anyone done that and able to comment? Thanks!

User avatar
Frankie - B
Admin - In the industry
Posts: 6573
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 8:17 am
Location: Drenthe, Holland

by Frankie - B

@speed,

Yes, it took some more tension to set it up right, but not much. I have a QS front mech switching the gears for me. The extra tension holding it in place is not super duper much as it is all held in place by a wicked light hollow AL bolt.

You know you want a Record mech on your bike. If not only to complement the CF looks of Force. Just pop one out of its box, fit it and enjoy the sight and the fast shifts. ;)

Image
'Tape was made to wrap your GF's gifts, NOT hold a freakin tire on.'
If you want to see 'meh' content of me and my bike you can follow my life in pictures here!

audiojan
Posts: 795
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:38 pm
Location: New Hampshire

by audiojan

On my TT bike (Look 496), I have a pair of 52/36 Q-rings and the Campy derailleur (tried both compact and standard, Chorus and Record...) can't handle the min to max (due to the ovality of the rings), whereas a Shimano Ultegra can handle the min to max.... shifts perfect on an otherwise Campy drivetrain.
"Suddenly the thought struck me; my floor is someone elses ceiling" - Nils Ferlin

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



orval2
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:33 pm

by orval2

@ speed

I don't know exactly the FD I have now :oops: and I'm not close to my bike.

Image

But for me I had to have a bit more tension to the cable. But not too much.
The shifting speed is at least as good as with the SRAM.
It was maybe faste with the Duara-Ace.
But I think the trouble is coming from the levers. I have dismountled the left lever tap because I wanted to paint it (I didn't). Since I remount the spring there, the shifting is faster! I don't know why. I'm still using the Record one.

But I'm not a racer and I choose the Record for its look.

Renaud

Post Reply