# SRAM Front Derailleur Problems



## CO Road Bike

I know this topic has probably been covered a lot before, but this issue is frustrating me so much that I need to write my own question. I currently have a 52/36 crank and a 11-28 cassette. When in my 52 gear, I am unable to shift into my 17, 19, 22, 25 or 28 gears without chain rub, even after engaging the "trim" on my shifters. This seems unacceptable to lose half of my cassette. Is there anything that can be done about this? Would a shift to a Shimano front derailleur help alleviate some of this issue and allow me to use more of my cassette?

Thanks.


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## cartmaniac

I think you just need to dial in the adjustment. If the front trim isn't making much difference in derailleur position, then you have too much tension in the cable. Adjust that so the cable is just barely taut in the small ring.

The other adjustment to tweak is derailleur height above the chainring (2-3 mm) as well as angle. The cage should be basically parallel to the chain ring, but slight toe in or toe out as needed. I'm guessing yours is toed in too far, so the inside of the cage drags the chain in the inner cogs 

For the record, my Red derailleur with 11-26 cassette and 53/39 rings, I get no rub with the little ring in cogs 1-8. No rub in the big ring in any cogs, using the trim position for cogs 1, 2, and maybe 3.


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## penn_rider

You will get many solutions,, but few if any except a shimano fd will work. I am still getting rub in big and small ring. My next step is putting on a shimano....


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## Skip 7750

I have a 2010 Force front derailleur with a compact crankset (50x34). When I first road the bike, a Specialized Roubaix Pro Sram, I could use only about 1/2 of the gears. Top half of the cassette in the small chainring and the bottom half of the cassette in the large ring.

I took it back to the bike shop (PV Bikes) and they adjusted the front derailleur in about 15 minutes. It works perfect now. The only rub that I get is in 34x11, which I never use. The rub is very slight, but it does rub. In the big ring, (50), I can use all ten gears, with zero rub on any of them. I can use 19 out of the 20 gears with no chair rub.

I have always had Shimano and this is my first Sram bike. I have to say that I really like the Sram. It shifts great, and the brake levers don't move around when squeezing them from the hoods. I only have about 100 miles on the bike, but it is enough to convince me that Sram is really great stuff. Just get it adjusted and you will be fine.

I am in no way knocking Shimano, but I prefer the Sram.......Skip


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## rcordray

Yes this has been discussed at length.

Your Sram FD is out of adjustment, without question.

This groupset has proven itself to be TDF-podium-worthy.
No pro would accept a groupset that only allows half of the range of the rear cassette.

Find a competent mechanic.


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## CO Road Bike

rcordray said:


> Find a competent mechanic.


Maybe this is the problem here in Denver. I have taken the bike to 4 bike shops (Denver Spoke, Campus Cycles, Wheat Ridge Cyclery and Bicycle Village) and each of them tell me that with a compact double, I will lose between 3 and 5 gears on both the big and the small and my derailleur is set up correctly. I was even told that a Shimano FD won't help as the amount of trim (or lack thereof for SRAM) depends on the shifters, so a Shimano FD will not provide more trim than a SRAM FD. Overall, I love SRAM, but before switching to SRAM, I never had the problem of losing approximately half my gears.


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## asad137

CO Road Bike said:


> Maybe this is the problem here in Denver. I have taken the bike to 4 bike shops (Denver Spoke, Campus Cycles, Wheat Ridge Cyclery and Bicycle Village) and each of them tell me that with a compact double, I will lose between 3 and 5 gears on both the big and the small and my derailleur is set up correctly.


Like others here, I can tell you from my experience that this is not true at all. In the big ring, with the trim, I can get all 10 rear cogs with Rival and pretty average-length chainstays (405mm). In the small ring, I can get the 8 largest cogs before the chain starts rubbing on the 50T chainring -- NOT the derailleur cage.

Asad


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## Becky

CO Road Bike said:


> Maybe this is the problem here in Denver. I have taken the bike to 4 bike shops (Denver Spoke, Campus Cycles, Wheat Ridge Cyclery and Bicycle Village) and each of them tell me that with a compact double, I will lose between 3 and 5 gears on both the big and the small and my derailleur is set up correctly. I was even told that a Shimano FD won't help as the amount of trim (or lack thereof for SRAM) depends on the shifters, so a Shimano FD will not provide more trim than a SRAM FD. Overall, I love SRAM, but before switching to SRAM, I never had the problem of losing approximately half my gears.


Your wrenches are idiots. Like others have said, I lose maybe the two smallest cogs when running in the little ring, and can be fully cross-chained with no rub when running in the big ring. And I'm just some hack who does all her own wrenching.


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## cartmaniac

Becky said:


> Your wrenches are idiots.


C'mon Becky, tell us how you really feel! You made my morning. Now I just have to clean the coffee off my monitors....

Seriously, to the OP: Like Becky, I'm a hack that does (most) of his own wrenching. Just take some time and work with it yourself. Read the SRAM and Park Tool docs. Take a few whacks at it, and I'll bet you end up better than the shop.


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## Becky

cartmaniac said:


> C'mon Becky, tell us how you really feel! You made my morning. Now I just have to clean the coffee off my monitors....
> 
> Seriously, to the OP: Like Becky, I'm a hack that does (most) of his own wrenching. Just take some time and work with it yourself. Read the SRAM and Park Tool docs. Take a few whacks at it, and I'll bet you end up better than the shop.


Sorry, it's been a rough morning, and I'm not normally this b!tchy


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## rcordray

Complete agreement with Becky.

My setup:
Force (1st Generation) compact 34-50 Crankset.
Red (1st Generation) shifters and derailleurs
Force (2nd Generation) 11-28 Cassette
Sram chain

In the 50-28 combo - I get the slightest rubbing - alleviated by one click of the trim function.
In the 34-11 combo - also a slight rub alleviated by shifting to the big ring - where I should have been by then anyway.

Do not let these various wrenches bs you - the system works fine when adjusted properly.


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## CO Road Bike

Thanks for the advice and the hope that I will be able to use most of my gears instead of roughly half. I may try to do my own adjustments, but since I am all thumbs, does anyone have a good mechanic in the Colorado (or more specifically, Denver) are that I could talk to and wouldn't just tell me TS?


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## rcordray

Not that you're looking to drive all the way to Boulder, but the Full Cycle on Pearl Street is reportedly very competent with Sram.
My son went to CU and had an Orbea Onix with full Sram Rival and he always got great tuneups there.
There's another Full Cycle right by campus that he did not have as much luck with.


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## cartmaniac

Schwab Cycles in Lakewood might be a good place to try. Talk to Walt about what's going on.

Bike Source in Highlands Ranch can be good. I've found them to be patient and thorough.


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## ktuck

Becky said:


> ...And I'm just some hack who does all her own wrenching.


Thanks for providing some inspiration for my first experience with SRAM (and pretty much my first time installing a derailleur).

On my first installation attempt, I had the cable way too tight. The shifter worked, but sounded like it was going to explode on every gear change. I had about three usable cogs on each chainring and, after reading about problems with SRAM, was almost ready to accept that setup.

After reading Becky's post, I tried a bunch of stuff but always ended up with bad combinations of cable tension and limits. So, I started from scratch. I even had to replace the cable because I had it under so much tension that a couple of wires were frayed.

The secret, for me, was to make sure the derailleur was accurately aligned and offset, then to set the limits before installing the cable and then to fasten the cable so that it was barely taut (I had it under tension before).

After spending hours trying to adjust a poorly installed derailleur and getting nowhere, I found that it only took a few minutes and a short test-drive to get the re-mounted derailleur
working perfectly.


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## Becky

ktuck said:


> The secret, for me, was to make sure the derailleur was accurately aligned and offset, then to set the limits before installing the cable and then to fasten the cable so that it was barely taut (I had it under tension before).


That's exactly how I would do it. I find that the amount of cable that I can pull by hand (while in the little chainring and little cog) is just about right, and limit screws always get set first.

It's a great feeling to fix your own bike- good job


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## K&K_Dad

ktuck said:


> So, I started from scratch. I even had to replace the cable because I had it under so much tension that a couple of wires were frayed.
> .


When you get done you could put on some electrical wire heat shrink on the end. weighs nothing, you can find it in accessorizing colors and it's easy to install.


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## ktuck

K&K_Dad said:


> When you get done you could put on some electrical wire heat shrink on the end. weighs nothing, you can find it in accessorizing colors and it's easy to install.


No go, it wasn't just the cable end I was worried about. I had the cable so highly pre-loaded that when I tried to shift, I ended up wearing through the cable down near the bottom bracket and close to the shifters.


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## tinman143

CO - I MIGHT have your answer since it looks as if you've tried everything. I have a Red front der (braze on) so I'm not sure if this applies to the other groups but I'm sure it does. The Front der has 2 holes to screw the bolt in on the der bracket: top hole for compact and bottom one for 53/39. Take a look at Sram's manual for specific directions. Maybe you should take a pic and post up. Good luck


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## sinatee

This forum is exactly what I was looking for. I have a 2012 Specialized Roubaix Apex. 

50/34 in front and 11-32 in back. I've adjusted cable tensions for days now. In the 50 ring I can use all 10 speeds in the back. With the 34 ring up front I can only use the top 7 - voiding 11-12-13 on my cassette which really disappoints me. Why dont they offer an upward trim feature? If I upgrade to Red 2012 is it supported? I really like 34-12 and 34-13, 11 not so much unless i'm on rolling hills.


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## Aakoo

sinatee said:


> This forum is exactly what I was looking for. I have a 2012 Specialized Roubaix Apex.
> 
> 50/34 in front and 11-32 in back. I've adjusted cable tensions for days now. In the 50 ring I can use all 10 speeds in the back. With the 34 ring up front I can only use the top 7 - voiding 11-12-13 on my cassette which really disappoints me. Why dont they offer an upward trim feature? If I upgrade to Red 2012 is it supported? I really like 34-12 and 34-13, 11 not so much unless i'm on rolling hills.


It's not about cable tension. You really shouldn't be cross-chaining that much on the small chainring, because the chain starts to rub on the big chainring. Especially on the compact double, when the difference between the chainrings is that big. Going to Red 2012 FD won't change that.


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## cxwrench

sinatee said:


> This forum is exactly what I was looking for. I have a 2012 Specialized Roubaix Apex.
> 
> 50/34 in front and 11-32 in back. I've adjusted cable tensions for days now. In the 50 ring I can use all 10 speeds in the back. With the 34 ring up front I can only use the top 7 - voiding 11-12-13 on my cassette which really disappoints me. Why dont they offer an upward trim feature? If I upgrade to Red 2012 is it supported? I really like 34-12 and 34-13, 11 not so much unless i'm on rolling hills.


it's in the directions that SRAM provides...those 3 combinations probably won't work. 50-17 is very close to 34-12 and 50-19 is virtually the same as 34-13. chainline is much better in those gears as well. they don't offer a trim in that direction because racers (the target crowd for Red) don't use gear combinations like that. they're likely to cross chain in the big ring for obvious reasons, but not in the small ring. as previously posted it won't be any better w/ 2012 Red. those gears just don't make sense.


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