# Campagnolo Front Derailleur Alignment



## tztag (Aug 15, 2010)

Alrighty- so I've gone all around the internets on this, consulted campy's tech documents, and still don't have a great answer. What is the proper and best-performing alignment for a 10 and 11 speed campy front derailleur? From the manual (where the drawing doesn't really reflect the true shape of the derailleur cage):

_Align the derailleur: the inner side of the derailleur cage must be parallel with the chainring_

Then a bit further down:

_The outside side of the derailleur cage must be parrallel with the larger chainring_

Those two wordings could be contradictory depending on how you define "inner side." I've tried a bunch of different angles on two different bikes- if I use the outside of the cage (the longest straight section) as the guide, the inner cage is canted pretty far inward and the shifting isn't very positive. My experimentation says the best shifting is with the outer cage pointed slightly outward so that the inner cage is more parallel with the chainrings, contradicting about everything I've read. Anyone else have a challenge reconciling the instructions with the reality of good shifting performance?


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

tztag said:


> Alrighty- so I've gone all around the internets on this, consulted campy's tech documents, and still don't have a great answer. What is the proper and best-performing alignment for a 10 and 11 speed campy front derailleur? From the manual (where the drawing doesn't really reflect the true shape of the derailleur cage):
> 
> _Align the derailleur: the inner side of the derailleur cage must be parallel with the chainring_
> 
> ...


Doesn't your post suggest that:
1) The FD inner and outer cages are not parallel.
2) The small and big chainrings are not parallel.
3) Or, a combination of the above?

Never having any FD tuning issue, I never had to verify whether my FD cages or my chainrings are parallel.


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## tztag (Aug 15, 2010)

orange_julius said:


> Doesn't your post suggest that:
> 1) The FD inner and outer cages are not parallel.
> 2) The small and big chainrings are not parallel.
> 3) Or, a combination of the above?
> ...


It's 1- the FD inner and outer cages aren't parallel. The campy cages are a complex shape- the outer cage curves, and the inner has an S shape.


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## rcharrette (Mar 27, 2007)

*I think*

What they are suggesting is that the Derailleur be in a dead straight line following the chain rings. That being said, what it your issue? On my initial set up of a new 10spd I could hit the big ring without a problem but had a heck of a time dropping back down. A VERY slight adjustment of pushing in the tail of the derailleur and all is good. Also, check the height it is from the cage bottom to the teeth on the big ring. You only want about 3mm of clearance there. Too high and you'll have shifting issues as well.


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## tztag (Aug 15, 2010)

rcharrette said:


> What they are suggesting is that the Derailleur be in a dead straight line following the chain rings. That being said, what it your issue?


That may be true- but where are you determining "dead straight" from when the cages aren't parallel and have complex shapes? That is the root of the question.


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## RHankey (Sep 7, 2007)

The majority of the outer plate is dead flat. If yours is not, something is wrong with the der. Align this flat portion of the outer cage so it is parallel to your large chainring.


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## SilverStar (Jan 21, 2008)

Or, try to draw an imaginary line down the center of the derailleur "cage" and line it up so that imaginary line is parallel to the outer chainring.

That being said, I've never had issues lining up the outside flat part of the derailleur to the ring. It's a snap. Check your cable tension, too. That has a pretty serious effect on a positive front shift, in my experience with Campagnolo derailleurs.


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## rcharrette (Mar 27, 2007)

*@tztag*

I think your over analyzing this. Just make sure the derailleur is straight visually. From there it should be very small micro adjustments to get things working. If not then you have another problem. Again, also check the height of the derailleur in relation to the out ring as well


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## tztag (Aug 15, 2010)

Randy you are probably right. I get best performance with the tail slightly canted out and have a nice 3 click upshift.


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