Compacts - dropping on to the small ring

ForumNewbie

I had a short test ride on a new bike with Compact gearing yesterday (my other bikes have triples). One thing I noticed was that when I shifted down from the 50 to 34 ring, rather than a smooth shift it seemed to be a bit of a twang and clunk as the chain fell on to the smaller ring. With a mixture of Ultegra and 105 components I expected it to be smoother.

Just wondering if this is usual on a Compact because 50 to 34 is a bigger size drop than say the 52 to 42 on my triple,or whether maybe the front mech just needed adjusting?

LongIslandTom

That's normal behavior.

The twang is the spring tension on the front derailleur releasing.

The clunk is to be expected on such a big difference between the gears. 50/34 is a 16-tooth difference, which is at the edge of the recommended difference for Shimano FDs.

I used to ride a 50/36 compact before I got my current bike with the 50/34 for easier hill-climbing, and my old 50/36 definitely got a less-noticible "clunk."

ForumNewbie

LongIslandTom wrote:

That's normal behavior.

The twang is the spring tension on the front derailleur releasing.

The clunk is to be expected on such a big difference between the gears. 50/34 is a 16-tooth difference, which is at the edge of the recommended difference for Shimano FDs.

I used to ride a 50/36 compact before I got my current bike with the 50/34 for easier hill-climbing, and my old 50/36 definitely got a less-noticible "clunk."

Thanks for the reassurance.

racingcondor

I think there are two things at play -

1) new bike (I've always found brand new shifters a little 'crisp' whoever makes them)
2) 5700/6700 is a little faster (and therefore not as smooth) as 5600/6600. I'm not sure what you're comparing to but if you're used to well worn in 3 year old Ultegra then everything new will feel a bit agricultural.