Campagnolo front derailleur alignment

neeb

One thing I have come to realise recently is that for really slick operation of the campagnolo front derailleur, perfect alignment is critical. The instructions state that the inner surface of the inner part of the cage should be parallel with the chainring. However, it's not easy to get this right, as the inner plate is profiled, and if the chain is already attached it's very difficult to see things properly to line them up. The last time I did this I just used trial and error - it seems that a millimeter or two either way can affect shifting a bit, and maybe make the chain more likely to jam or jump off the chainrings when shifting down.

I'm using a band on derailleur (maybe with a braze on it is automatically aligned?) It strikes me that it would be useful if there was just some sort of mark on the band to indicate the centre line for alignment with the seat tube, as obviously the cranks should always be exactly parallel with the frame.

Does anyone know a quick and simple way to get this right?

Robert456

Using measurments from the bottom bracket you could easily make your own marks, or if you get it set up well, next time you need to fiddle or remove just put some alignment marks on to aid reasembly.
I would think that band on mecks are easier because you have much greater range of adjustment (especially if using non-traditional chainsets) as compared to braze on, although I see what your saying, braze on kind of gets the mech roughly in the right place.
I've just build up a bilke with campag braze on front mech, set the front mech right first time by simply aligning with chainrings and 'knocking back' a bit to clear the crank arm. Using approx '95 chorus mech with a QS shifter and works really well across carbon ultra-torque!

Ben6899

When I built my Cadex, I made sure the outer plate was parallel with the large chain ring. It's easy to see (even with the chain in place) and shifting is fine.