Compatibility of 105 5600 front mech

bigeuan82

Hi all, looking to replace a 105 5600 series clamp on front mech with an Ultegra one. I can find the Ultegra 6700 series ones for a decent price but I've read somewhere that they may not be compatible with 5600 series 105 shifters, can anyone confirm that this is the case? If not I'll just need to find an older 6600 series Ultegra one.

Also, I take it I can just use a double mech even though I'm running a compact? I don't see one listed as a "compact" specific one.

As always, thanks in advance.

sungod

compact/double is not a issue, fd will be fine with either

afaik shimano changed the fd pull with the 67xx/57xx series vs. 66xx/56xx and earlier, so officially they are not compatible

but whether they'll still work ok together is another matter, from what i've read it wasn't a huge change and some people are reporting mixing without problems

andy_wrx

I'm running 6600 Ultegra shifters with a 6700 front mech and it's perfect

Shimano say something like 6700 shifters with 6600 mech has 'less than perfect shifting', but from what I gather the issue is that 6700/5700 with the under-the-bartape cabling has more friction, so there's a slightly stronger return spring in the 6700/5700 mechs to handle it, simple as that, no pull-ratio change (there is with the brakes, but that's different)

Go for it