Help! Front Derailleur

richie1973
richie1973 Posts: 99
edited September 2012 in Road beginners
I am a total noob, i went out sunday for my first ride, i covered 52 mile on flat roads but could not seem to find a gear that i was comfy in. i found myself changing the front all the time. The noise heard from the front derailleur when in the big front ring can be heard in about 6 or 7 gears starting from my 28 downwards. Then if i swapp to small front ring noise can be heard in 5 or 6 gears starting with my 12 the going upwards....is this normal rub? plus my chain jumped off once?
i have a 50-34/12-28 shifters are 105, rear derailleur is 105 and front derailleur is tiagra.
any help very appreciated.
thabks in advance.

Comments

  • Bobbinogs
    Bobbinogs Posts: 4,841
    I have no idea what you are on about, to be honest, but I will take a guess at some of your points.

    On a flat ride I would stay on the big ring at the front so I don't understand why you were constantly "changing the front all the time"?? To get "comfy"??

    You should avoid crossing the chain (big ring front, small ring back and vice versa) but that's not so important on the flat as the strain is not quite as bad as climbing, IMO. The Parker website has a good guide to setting up gears and trim, but you might also want to look at shifting technique and chain length (and possible a chain catcher too as a failsafe) if you are shipping the chain.

    Keep at it. By the way, 52 miles for a first spin is pretty good, but the hills, oh the hills :)
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Depends how you define 'comfy'.

    If it's mainly on the flat you want to be in an intermediate gear so either the big ring and 3rd, 4th or 5th gear on the cassette (working from the biggest cog to smallest), or small ring and a couple of cogs higher at the back. That should give you a smooth cadence and allow you to maintain a steady pace with a few gears in hand to deal with slopes.

    The noise you described is normal in those gear combinations but you should be able to minimise it by shifting half a shift to nudge the derailleur over a bit more. Big to big and small to small gear combinations will generally create a noise and you ought to avoid them as you can find the same gear in a different permutation that doesn't cross the chain. If the chain falls off and you can't shift enough to stop the noise in all gears bar the extremes the cables need adjusting. Search for YouTube vids to show you how to adjust front (and rear) mechs.

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