Triban 3 Front Mech - Stiff

photonic69

Hi. I was wondering if I could get some advice.
My 11 year old son has a small Triban 3. He absolutely loves it. The BIG problem is the front mech/shifters. They are stiff. Really stiff. I stripped it down this evening. The shifter is fine when there is no/low tension in the cable. I lubed the cable with some silicone lube. These all run freely. I feel the problem is with the front derailleur spring being really strong. His fingers just aren't strong enough to push it to a larger ring and the stupid thumb shifter is pretty hopeless too. I've got Sora on my Giant and the shifting is soo much easier.

Any ideas what I can replace/what is compatible to make his cycling more enjoyable and to stop me shouting at him on hills to "change the sodding gear! You are going too slow!"

Any help appreciated.

keezx

Take the front mech apart, clean and lubricate with grease.

keef66

I've wasted hours faffing with recalcitrant front mechs. I can generally get to the point that it's moving more freely, but after a couple of weeks it's stiff again.

I think that once corrosion starts to affect the pivots then unless you're on a very tight budget, the quickest and most effective fix is to buy and fit a new mech. They are generally pretty cheap anyway.

photonic69

Keezx wrote:

Take the front mech apart, clean and lubricate with grease.

Yup, it's well lubed which helped a bit, but still awkward to shift.

keef66 wrote:

..... the quickest and most effective fix is to buy and fit a new mech. They are generally pretty cheap anyway.

Yes, I have just done this to my wife's hybrid where she found it too hard on her thumb to push into a higher gear. New front mech and cable made it much smoother. Still a little hard but I guess that is the nature of the stiff springing they use.

Looks like new mech and cable are in order.

Incidentally I checked out the "twin" of his Triban at his cycling club and the lad has the same issues as my son, with the movement being quite stiff to shift.

I've given him some finger strengthening exercises to do now which will be the biggest improvement!

capt_slog

Just wondering.

If you're not having the same trouble from tiny front ring to middle, are you sure that when you try to shift up, you are not hitting the limit too early? the effect of this will be that it feels really tight to shift up, but you are really just trying to tension the cable when it hits the upper limit.

The same will affect the down shift, as the tiny thumb lever is trying to release that same tension, which it finds difficult.

I have the same bike, no problems at all with it.

holiver

Is it Microshift equipment? This issue sounds familiar. I think replacing it with a cheap Shimano derailleur could sort it?