How to Adjust a Front Derailleur

What people said

Recommends Argenti Apparatus · 2017-10 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Shifting 1>2 does nothing, shifting 2>3 puts me into 2nd. What's wrong?”

Probably all that is needed is a re-adjustment of the front derailleur cable. The cable is pulled by the shifter lever to swing it outwards to the bigger rings, so slightly too much cable between the shifter and derailleur prevents the cage from being swung out enough to get to the biggest ring. There are many guides to derailleur adjustment out there. My favorite is available on the Park Tool Company YouTube channel (link below), but googling will yield several to choose from. Basic procedure is: To tighten the cable, find the front derailleur barrel adjuster , it will be at the shift lever if you have mountain bike shift levers or on the frame somewhere along the cable run if you have a ro

Recommends Argenti Apparatus · 2018-06 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Gear problems on my bike”

Not sure if you are having problems with the front derailleur or rear, but the answer is really the same. Derailleurs have 3 adjustments: High limit Low limit Indexing High and low limits stop the derailleur from pushing the chain off the inner and outermost sprockets. Indexing lines the derailleur up with the individual sprockets. It sounds like you have both a limit and indexing problem. If you are unfamiliar with bicycle maintenance the easiest option is to have a local bicycle repair shop do the adjustment. It's a straightforward process and inexpensive. If you want to attempt adjustment yourself, there are many good 'how-to' articles and videos available that walk you through the proces

Recommends Argenti Apparatus · 2018-06 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Shimano front derailleur - tensioning, can't move shifter”

Best approach is to start from scratch following a procedure so you know you are not making things worse. There are a few youtube videos that walk you through the procedure. My favorite is Park Tool Company’s as it’s the easiest to follow and includes checking height and yaw. (Link at bottom.) Before attempting the adjustment, make sure the cable and housing is properly inserted into the shifter body and and the guides on the frame. Another thing to do is check the shifter is pulling the cable properly, and the cable is running freely independent of the derailleur. Disconnect the cable from the derailleur, grab the cable and put some tension on it (a set of pliers can be helpful), then turn

Recommends Sapphire64 · 2018-08 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Test drive of bike derailed chain easily ... bad sign or nothing?”

Excluding the factor of very-very cheap bikes with unknown components, damaged components etc, this particular situation is quite typical for front derailleur which was not set up properly. To be able to shift gears without chain falling off on either side you need to make sure to set up front derailleur correctly, starting with height and rotation angle, and ending with limit screws which are designed specifically to avoid the described situation :) After that you can expose your bike even to several meter drops and chain should stay in place (on a mountain bike, with appropriate rear derailleur), not mentioning just a plain simple ride like you had even without shifting. Many people hate f

Recommends Argenti Apparatus · 2019-04 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Chain getting stuck between large chain ring and front mech when changing into big ring”

So what's happening is the chain is not climbing the inner edge of the big ring as the derailleur cage pushes it outboard. I'd suspect worn chain and chainrings, but I'd work through a systematic front derailleur adjustment process to see if I could get it working before buying new parts. The derailleur may have been rotated, or the cage bent slightly. Park Tool has great videos for derailleur adjustment with a set of steps to go through, here is the front derailleur one [this video] . You should be able to change chainrings, not the whole crankset. FYI the bottom bracket standard from 15 years ago was BSA threaded shells with cartridge bearings (outboard bearings just arriving at this time I thi

Recommends Argenti Apparatus · 2019-04 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Shimano front derailleur compatiblity with FSA crankset”

The problem is almost certainly not with the derailleur itself. It's probably badly adjusted (sounds like you have too much slack in the shift cable). Another issue that leads to bad shifting is the cable may be sticking in the housing. Checking for a sticky is easy, with the bike off the ground, shift to the big ring and then down to the small ring while watching the derailleur. If it does not move as soon as the the cable is sticking. Remove it, clean and lubricate or replace along with the housing. Work through a step-by-step front derailleur adjustment process [this video] (you'll need to do this if you replace the cable or derailleur anyway). Shimano very helpfully published their specificat

Recommends Vladimir F Героям слава · 2020-03 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “My front dérailleur doesn't shift into the big ring neither in the small one. If I pull the shifter nothing happens”

Try to set up the derailleur from scratch. Unscrew the cable clamping bolt to disconnect the cable. If you cannot move the derailleur when the cable is disconnected, the problem is there. If the disconnected cable does not move when you move your shifter, the problem is in the shifter. Check that you can move the derailleur all the way in and out. If the checks are OK: Connect the cable back with such a tension that the chain on the small chainring is in the middle of the derailleur cage. Then set the limit screws according to common tutorials. There are many tutorials on Youtube and elsewhere. Just search for setting up front derailleur.

Recommends Ted Hohl · 2022-06 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “How to set H screw limit on front derailleur”

The front derailleur (FD) H limit screw simply limits the travel of the FD to the right. It does not adjust the position of the FD, just the point where it will stop moving regardless of the pull on the shift cable. If you are trying to "set" the High limit on the FD, you will need to pull the cable more to move the FD more to the right. On some derailleurs, you may have enough leverage to manipulate the lever arm [at the pinch bolt] to move the FD to the point where it will contact the H Limit screw to see where it is set (to achieve the 1mm gap you mentioned). If the gap between the outside edge of the chain and the outer part of the FD cage is > 1mm, you turn the H Limit screw clockwise t

Recommends Rеnаud · 2023-01 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Chain is rubbing the front derailleur even after trying to align using indexing screws”

This kind of noise can happen if the cage is not positioned properly. It's difficult to judge from the picture, but if by 2x8 or 2x7 (the gear indicators on my bike are not marked, so I don't know in which direction they go on yours), you mean big chainrings, small sprockets, the derailleur is not aligned properly. The picture would match a "big chainring, big sprocket" situation, where you may have rubbing because of chain crossing. Normally, the cage should be parallel to the big chairing. If it's not the case, you can address that by moving the whole derailleur (by loosening the clamp that attaches the derailleur to seat tube). In theory, it is straightforward, in practice it may be a bit

Recommends Sam7919 · 2023-03 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “If you maintain multiple bikes, what's better in the long-run, audible or visual FD tuning?”

There are two schools for tuning a front derailleur. The visual school , described in Shimano Dealer's Manual, is to tighten the hi/lo screws by inspecting the gap between cage and chain, and seeking a minimal gap at either extreme. Once mastered, the process can be done in a few minutes. The audible school , carefully [this video] presented by Calvin Jones at Park Tools, involves an in-depth analysis of how a false hi/lo limit can be set. Jones describes how to eliminate potentially false limit settings using an intricate system for the limit screws, cable tautness, and barrel adjustment—a system that relies on listening for chain-cage rub. Even after using this method a dozen times, it's still