gear compatability Kaffenback

Mayhemwmb

Hope someone can help me out,
I have bought a Plnet X Kaffenback, it is a flat bar model equipped with an lx groupset, when the bike arrived it was wearing 700 x 23 tyres, As part of my commute is through a park along a gravel track I decided to fit some 700 x 28 tyres,
This is where the problems have started, the tyre now touches the front mech as it is one of the dual pull ones with the cable routed up the back round the grey plastic thing!
I have tried to fit a specific bottom pull mech and it still touches slightly, (am able to turn the wheel but it is rubbing).
The big question is can I fit a road front mech and will the indexing still work, I will add that I am mechanically sypathetic and tend to do my own maintenance. Please let me know which mech would do the job and a rough idea of the price

el_presidente

You should be able to find a medium range road mech for £20 or less

You need to check the fitting i.e. braze on or band on and if it is band then check the required diameter

indexing should be fine as indexing comes from the lever not the mech and front mechs in particular are not too sensitive

Try the On-one forum (planet-x sister company) who might be more helpful and you may find people who have had similar issues

tardington

Glad you got problem fixed!

I clicked on this thinking it was some sort of coffee-specific camelbak. I'd pay for THAT

Mayhemwmb

tardie wrote:

Glad you got problem fixed!

I clicked on this thinking it was some sort of coffee-specific camelbak. I'd pay for THAT

Nope, still not fixed, have since found out that a mountain bike front shifter is not compatible with a road front mech, worst case scenario - I'm going to have to get some flat bar road shifters, new brake levers, and a road front mech - the lx stuff will end up on flea bay!!!
Bit of a pain in the arse as I've only been for a spin to the bottom of the street. I was hoping to use this new machine for the commute to work tomorrow!!!!!

el_presidente

Mayhemwmb wrote:

tardie wrote:

Glad you got problem fixed!

I clicked on this thinking it was some sort of coffee-specific camelbak. I'd pay for THAT

Nope, still not fixed, have since found out that a mountain bike front shifter is not compatible with a road front mech, worst case scenario - I'm going to have to get some flat bar road shifters, new brake levers, and a road front mech - the lx stuff will end up on flea bay!!!
Bit of a pain in the ars* as I've only been for a spin to the bottom of the street. I was hoping to use this new machine for the commute to work tomorrow!!!!!

1) who told you a MTB shifter won't work with a road front mech? the indexing is in the shifter so I would hav thought it should be fine. If you have tried it then I stand corrected

2) Have you posted on the on-one forum or emailed Brant? They are usually very hellpful. It's sold as a cross machine so I can't believe you won't be able to get 28c tyres on it. See the pics hers http://www.planet-x-bikes.com/road/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=221

jpembroke

MTB shifters pull more cable than their road counterparts IIRC. I used MTB shifters with a road chainset on my old Kaffenback and discovered that the gear cable for the front mech was always slack after shifting. That's why shimano do road specific flat bar shifters. I assume from this that road triples have narrower spacing than MTB chainsets so don't require as much movement from the front mech.

Anyway, this sounds like a real pain. The Kaffenback sure is a quirky bike but I did enjoy it (since swapped it for a cross frame for racing). I gave up on the flat bars in the end and turned it in to a road bike with drops and a double or compact depending on my mood. That was fine and it became a top bike.