Shimano Front Derailleur/Shifter Compatibility Question

elcani

Hi

Will Shimano Tiagra STI shifters like these (http://tinyurl.com/mrwxtp) work with a Shimano FD-R443-F front mech (http://tinyurl.com/lrr2ec), which is meant for flat bar shifters?

Thanks.

Marky

Hi. I'm pretty certain that the Shimano FD-R443F front mech will not work correctly with STI shifters, unfortunately.
Front mechs that are compatible with STI shifters have very short swing-arms (the length of arm between the cable clamp and the arm pivot) - this is so that the small amount of cable pull operated by the STI shifter will translate into sufficient movement of the front mech cage.
As far as I know, you'll need a front mech that is one of these - Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, or Dura Ace.
Unless anyone knows different.
Good luck.

tonye_n

Hi, I agree with Marky.
Shimano make FD-R443(Tiagra level and 9 speed) and FD-R773(ULTEGRA...ish and 10 speed)front mechs specifically to go with flat-bar shifters.

As Marky says this is to do the difference in the amount of cable pull on flat-bar vs STI shifters.

maddog 2

it'll be close though

I'd give it a go before buying a new mech. It's true that the STI pulls less cable than the 443/flat bar stuff, but you can sometimes get round this by re-routing the mech cable to the other side of the bolt, thereby reducing the pivot arm length.

If you run a triple it's trickier, as the setup has to be spot on, but doubles/compacts are less fussy.

John.T

+1 for the cable bodge. It works if you want to use an MTB mech for a touring setup with smaller chainrings. Check the CTC site for more details.