Front derailleur shifting woes

[montage]

I'm dealing with shimano 2300 here - which may be part of the issue.

The shifter clicks the correct number of times and pulls the cable correctly.
The front derailleur appears to be working fine when moving it by hand.
However, attatch the cable to the derailleur and it all goes to pot. From the smallest ring, it simply will not shift upwards into the middle ring when clicking the shifter into the middle ring position. With some tweaking, and pulling the cable really tight, sometimes it will - however the shifter will not then click into the big ring position.....so essentially, the shifter appears to not want to shift all the way.

Thanks for looking!

 

[accountantpete]

It's a bit long-winded but I would take the lever off the bars with the inner cable still attached.

Then attach a suitable weight to the bottom of the cable and go through the clicks whilst holding the lever and weight up.

If the lever goes through all the clicks then it's down to the cabling/front mech.

 

[HovR]

Once you've installed the cable and tightened it on to the derailleur, have you adjusted the barrel adjusters to get the cable tension correct?

 

[montage]

Once you've installed the cable and tightened it on to the derailleur, have you adjusted the barrel adjusters to get the cable tension correct?

I've played around with various cable tensions - the only barrel adjuster is one of the jagwire ones adjacent to the shifter, which I don't rate much. I've also tried moving the derailleur into the outer ring position and adjusting the tension for that with little success.

 

[montage]

It's a bit long-winded but I would take the lever off the bars with the inner cable still attached.

Then attach a suitable weight to the bottom of the cable and go through the clicks whilst holding the lever and weight up.

If the lever goes through all the clicks then it's down to the cabling/front mech.

Hmm, I've done a test where I wrapped the cable round my hand and pulled tight whilst clicking through the shifter, and it was pulling fine. This seems similar to what you are suggesting?

I'm kind of worried that perhaps the shifter isn't pulling enough cable through

 

[accountantpete]

Hmm, I've done a test where I wrapped the cable round my hand and pulled tight whilst clicking through the shifter, and it was pulling fine. This seems similar to what you are suggesting?

I'm kind of worried that perhaps the shifter isn't pulling enough cable through

That sounds as though the shifter is ok.

If the mech is working ok that just leaves the cabling.

You should have the inner cable nipple firmly seated in the shifter - then where the cable exits you should make sure that the outer cable (preferably with a ferrule) is tight up to the shifter and tight up to the down tube boss (again with ferrule if poss).

Make sure the cable is taped down and it isn't too long and it should work.

NB - you have to co-ordinate the shifter with the front mech. ie thumb shift down as much as possible and then connect the cable with the front mech on the small ring.

 

[montage]

That sounds as though the shifter is ok.

If the mech is working ok that just leaves the cabling.

You should have the inner cable nipple firmly seated in the shifter - then where the cable exits you should make sure that the outer cable (preferably with a ferrule) is tight up to the shifter and tight up to the down tube boss (again with ferrule if poss).

Make sure the cable is taped down and it should work.

Thanks for the help - I've set up countless front derailleurs before, just never had this problem.... fingers crossed I just left something loose as you say. I'll have a fettle and report back!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

[quote="montage, post: 2053021, member: 4066"
I'm kind of worried that perhaps the shifter isn't pulling enough cable through[/quote]

You can measure it easily with a couple of sticky tapes (one on exposed inner cable, one on frame adjacent) and a ruler. Road front shifters pull just over 13mm across a triple (i.e. 2 clicks). Road front shifters will not pull enough cable to index mtb or flat bar road front mechs - I hope that is not what you have.

Assuming it is not that, and assuming you have been able to use your hands to check shifter solid cable pull and front mech's freedom of travel across the rings, have you pushed and pulled the inner within the outer to assure a smooth run?

 

[montage]

I'll double check the measurements tomorrow recordace - the bike is in bed for now, cheers for the info!

I've got it shifting fine between the middle ring and outer ring - but then when it drops down to the small ring it won't go back up - pretty odd. So for now I've set the limit screw to stop it going to the small ring, effectively making it a double.

 

[fossyant]

You need more cable tension by the sounds of it, open up the adjuster, or pull more cable at the mech cable clamp

 

[PpPete]

Another thing to check is the condition of the ends of the cable outer. Some of the wire sheath strands can shift in the plastic outer.... effectively reducing the pull on the inner.

 

[Broadside]

What front derailleur is it? Is it the matching Shimano 2300 FD?

 

[actonblue]

Have you checked for wear in the front derailleur is there any play in the pivots? If there is excess play this might comprise
the shifting.

 

[montage]

Turns out to be a broken shifter!
New shifter in and no problems whatsoever