Dura Ace 9000 FD compatibility

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JN2Wheels
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by JN2Wheels

v70cat wrote:I am going to change the FD it has been adjusted many many times and I still have issues!

Questions:
1) Will a 7900FD work with 7800 shifters? Will it work better than 7800 FD?
2) Will a 9000 FD work with 7800 shifters? Will it work better than 7900 FD?



I too would love an answer to this question. Don't want to give up the perfection of my 7800 hood ergonomics. But need a new front der, and would like to "upgrade" weight and shifting, if possible.

BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

7800, 7900 and 9000 all have different cable actuation ratios for the FD. They will all "work", to some degree, with each other, but it depends on what your definition of what working means. If you want optimal shifting for a given set of STI levers, you'll need to go with the corresponding FD.

7900 FD with 7800 STI and the levers won't pull enough cable to shift the FD properly

7900 STI with 7800 FD - the 7900 levers have no inner ring trim stop since they were designed to use the 7900 FD which has a wider cage that the 7800 FD. You'll get a lot of chain rub and not be able to adequately get rid of it.

9000 FD is too new and too unavailable to know, but that huge lever arm has got to require a markedly different cable pull then either 7800 or 7900 FDs.

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thisisatest
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by thisisatest

7900 front derailleur with 7800 shifters and 7900 crank will not move the FD enough. If as above, but with 7800 crank, it'll be fine.
9000 may or may not work with current shifters. 9000 has a long arm, yes, but the cable passes very close to the arm's pivot point, making the effective arm length effectively very, very short. That's how shimano managed to make 9000 have such a light fd shift action.

Berg
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by Berg

For those that might like to know, I have just mounted a FD-9000 together with a Campa Record 11s group, and so far it works pretty good!
It takes 3 clicks to shift up, and the first click I can use for trim while on small ring.
On big chainring, there is only a bit of rub on derailleur when chain is all crossed up - a gear I would never use anyway.

It is only tested in workstand so far, so can't yet say for sure if it works 100% on the road. Will let you know when it gets a bit warmer outside :)

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ms6073
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by ms6073

Bringing this back to the top as I am curious to know if anyone has direct experience with 7900 shifters and 9000 front derailleur? Although I intend to upgrade our road bikes to 9000, our cross/gravel bike wont get upgraded for quite a while and with the 7900 shifters/front derailleur, the wife has considerable trouble shifting to the big chainring.
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

GT56
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by GT56

ms6073 wrote:Bringing this back to the top as I am curious to know if anyone has direct experience with 7900 shifters and 9000 front derailleur? Although I intend to upgrade our road bikes to 9000, our cross/gravel bike wont get upgraded for quite a while and with the 7900 shifters/front derailleur, the wife has considerable trouble shifting to the big chainring.


spend your wife di2, and she will love you even more!

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ms6073
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by ms6073

Yes but despite her affections, that may no longer be the case if I spent $4000 US to equip all 4 of the bikes with Di2! :lol:
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

liketoride
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by liketoride

does anyone know if the 9000 fd should work with 12-13 red shifters? the 9000 is 12 grams lighter and the powercordz keep slipping on the fd not only that but i have had to tighten it so many times i have gone through 3 cordz up front and i think the 9000 would be better for the powercordz and it would drop 12 grams.

finbard
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by finbard

7900 front derailleur with 7800 shifters and 7900 crank will not move the FD enough. If as above, but with 7800 crank, it'll be fine.
9000 may or may not work with current shifters. 9000 has a long arm, yes, but the cable passes very close to the arm's pivot point, making the effective arm length effectively very, very short. That's how shimano managed to make 9000 have such a light fd shift action.


Interesting. I have 7800 STI and a 7900 chainset, so it sounds like a 9000 front mech might be the best way of marrying the two?

This is getting seriously complicated...

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DMF
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by DMF

Just got Athena 11's operating an FD-6800 flawlessly in the workstand, with only two clicks on the lever (one down). Haven't got a wheel or chain on, but it's so close you can easily index the chain tension for perfect big ring and do any fine tuning for the small ring with the lower limit screw.

FC-4500 52/39 crankset.

Berg, big thanks to you for sharing your post. I probably wouldn't have taken the leap, even if I was curious before if it might work.

liketoride
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by liketoride

bike rumor said this DA9000 is an 11-speed-only group. It’s a different cable pull for both front and rear derailleurs, so there’s no compatibility between the 7900 shifters and derailleurs.The chainrings are the same width as the 10-speed rings from the 7900 group, but the chain and tooth profiles on both the chainrings and cogs have been revised for 11-speed.


but i was wondering if anyone has gone out on their own and tried the 9000fd on the sram products yet?

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ms6073
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by ms6073

liketoride wrote:but i was wondering if anyone has gone out on their own and tried the 9000fd on the sram products yet?
So last week I figured it was once again time to be the lab rat and purchased two FD-9000 Braze-On derailleurs and over the weekend I installed them on the wife's road and cross bikes. Both bikes have DA 7900 shifters and derailleurs with the road bike, a 2010 TCR Advanced SL ISP has an FSA K-Force Light compact SRM and 50/34 chainrings and setup was straight forward although I found I had to be spot on with tuning to avoid chain rub. The cross bike has a Hollowgram SRM running 44/34 chainrings and was a little more work to setup due to the top routed cable run for the front mech and with the cable looping down to a pulley then back up, it took a bit more finesse but it also works well.
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

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PSM
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by PSM

thisisatest wrote:
v70cat wrote:Is the Sram RED Yaw FD compatible with Dura-Ace 7800 shifters and 7900 compact crank?

I have had problems with my 7800 FD ever since I added a 7900 compact crank, it was supposed to be compatible but it has been a dropped chain nightmare.

From what I can tell the 9000 FD is not compatible?

7800 fd with 7800 shifters is not compatible with 7900 cranks. in general, the derailleur wont move far enough to get the chain to the large ring. there will be rubbing in the hardest gears in the big ring and/or in the easiest gears in the small ring.

this chart does not list 7800, but does still list 5600 (105). it shows that 5600 is compatible with 7900 front derailleurs (but not the other way around) and 5600 is compatible with 7901 chains. that's basically the extent of cross compatibility for the front shift systems.


I rode the FD7800 together with 7950.

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PSM
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by PSM

Double post?!
Last edited by PSM on Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PSM
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by PSM

PSM wrote:
PSM wrote:
thisisatest wrote:
v70cat wrote:Is the Sram RED Yaw FD compatible with Dura-Ace 7800 shifters and 7900 compact crank?

I have had problems with my 7800 FD ever since I added a 7900 compact crank, it was supposed to be compatible but it has been a dropped chain nightmare.

From what I can tell the 9000 FD is not compatible?

7800 fd with 7800 shifters is not compatible with 7900 cranks. in general, the derailleur wont move far enough to get the chain to the large ring. there will be rubbing in the hardest gears in the big ring and/or in the easiest gears in the small ring.

this chart does not list 7800, but does still list 5600 (105). it shows that 5600 is compatible with 7900 front derailleurs (but not the other way around) and 5600 is compatible with 7901 chains. that's basically the extent of cross compatibility for the front shift systems.


I rode the FD7800 together with 7950 and 7800 shifters. No problems at all.

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