# Braze on or Band On Front Derailleur for 2005 Allez Elite?



## giro di lento (Feb 2, 2009)

Hello

As the title of my post suggests, I'm not sure which derailleur type to order to upgrade from a Shimano 105 front mech to an Ultegra front mech and would appreciate any help.

I think I can use a braze on but am not sure - my current 105 mech has a band and I'm thinking I could just attach an Ultegra braze on mech to this band - am I correct?

Any help clearing this up for me would be appreciated.

thanks
GdL


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> I think I can use a braze on but am not sure - my current 105 mech has a band and I'm thinking I could just attach an Ultegra braze on mech to this band - am I correct?


Probably not, unless the 105 you current have is a braze-on plus clamp instead of just a clamp-on FD. You can use a braze-on FD with a clamp, but you have to buy the clamp. It's a completely different design from the clamp on an Ultegra clamp-on FD. The clamp on the clamp-on is essentially integrated into the design and cannot be modified to accommodate a braze-on FD.

So, if you need a clamp-on FD, your options are:

Clamp-on or braze-on plus clamp, unless your current set up is a braze-on plus clamp.

Hope this helps.


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## giro di lento (Feb 2, 2009)

Thanks Dr_John, that does help. I've just checked the Specialized website and it says my bike has a Shimano 105, 31.8 clamp bottom pull front mech, so I'm guessing if I was to get an Ultegra one - I will need a 31.8 clamp version. Or I buy a braze on mech and buy a clamp separately. Is there any advantage of one way versus another?

Thanks again.


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