Front derailleur cable hits path of pedal
Bicycles Asked on March 30, 2021
The front derailleur cable is on the path of the pedal.
Derailleur cable is in the path of the pedal (right of picture):
The amateurish solution of pulling it back with a loop requires a solution itself to stop the holding loop from sliding.
Hackish, unworkable “solution”:
If I google “front derailleur cable hits pedal” I get what I perceive as a low-quality solution (shorten the cable and crimp again; I like slacks).
What would you do? Unwind the bolt a little and turn the cable either up (towards the sky) or down (towards the ground) and tighten again, trying to hit the exact spot and eliminate the need for subsequent tuning? Is that a good way to go? If yes, sky means less surface to hold the cable; ground means excessive twist on a cable with a blueish plasticky coating (for rust prevention?) that looks like it doesn’t like excessive bending.
Update, following Swifty’s answer:
Here is my candidate process:
- Use Sharpie to mark where the cable is set.
- Use Sharpie to mark the sky-side setting of the bolt (since I don’t have a torque wrench, anywhere from the 11am to 1pm settings will do for a reasonable rewind torque).
- Loosen the cable. The cable will be considerably less taut (thanks, Argenti Apparatus) with the chain on the smaller chainring. (Is this enough to ensure the cable will not gain too much the moment I unwind the bolt? I don’t see a barrel adjuster; should there be one under the rubber surrounding the shifters?)
- Unwind, turn cable and wind back.
Could you comment?
4 Answers
Depending on the issue and excess length you might bend the cable out of the way, you might shorten it, or you might release and reattach it.
In this case the cable could be released and pulled down more, behind the clamping plate there is a little groove that the cable is not currently sitting in, see the extract below from the dealer's manual for R3000 derailleurs, showing the cable path.
If then it still hits something you could shorten it a touch (if you have the means to re-crimp the end). The blue coating is a friction reducing coating, it doesn't do anything at this end of the system so that doesn't matter.
You want to shift down into the lowest setting on the derailleur before releasing the cable. You can check if the derailleur is lined up correctly in height and angle and that the support screw is engaged. You can refer to the sections in the dealer's manual below, and/or online guides.
I wouldn't bother to mark the bolt before releasing, you'll need to release it as far as necessary and after reattaching it could be in a different position when it is fastened tightly enough. With the cable tucked underneath properly it will probably allow the bolt to screw in further before tight.
Any barrel adjuster should be easily visible along the housing. If you don't have one that is a little more challenging, you'll have to pull some tension on the cable as you attach it. One hack is to tighten the low limit screw by a known amount (like one turn) before attaching the cable. then when cable is secure, releasing the low limit screw by the same known amount, allowing the cable to tighten.
Correct answer by Swifty on March 30, 2021
i'd just take the cable end loop it to thread through the hole that is on the left of the cable, or cut it down a bit and re attach a cable end.
Answered by James on March 30, 2021
From the picture it looks like the cable was not installed correctly. It should have been pulled around the clamping bolt and plate so that it points downward. It would be better to fix it that way vs. cutting it shorter or unnecessarily putting a bend in the cable. A local bike shop should be able to fix that or if the bike is new, the shop that built it should be able to fix it pretty quickly.
Answered by Tude Productions on March 30, 2021
I have an R2000 Claris FD with a similar design, and the cable neatly tucks into the large teardrop-shaped opening on the derailleur arm. It does not interfere with the derailleur’s movement at all.
Answered by MaplePanda on March 30, 2021
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