Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes

If you’ve been cycling for some time, you’re probably aware that stuff in the cycling world changes frequently. Maybe not as fast as with automobiles or computers but faster than ever these days. Cycling companies have adopted the model year model and they churn out “new” product so you’ll keep buying their stuff. Hence, we have displays of the latest goodies at the annual Eurobike exhibition, the annual Taipei bike show that just finished, and if you recall we also had an annual gathering in Las Vegas—Interbike —where all the new toys would be on display for those of in the US. Every year the big bike companies release new junk and the smaller companies dutifully imitate them even if their resources are so much smaller. Shimano, the world’s biggest groupset manufacturer, mostly has been on a three-year turnover for its groups but it has enough tiers—Dura Ace, Ultegra, 105, Tiagra, etc.—that there is a new introduction every year. Although SRAM and Campy don’t seem to be so tied to regular turnover, they also introduce new goodies.

Newer technologies seemed to have spurred even more crazy turnover so we have a bewildering introduction of carbon wheels, suspension, disc brakes, electronic shifters, gravel whatever, and aero anything practically daily. How many of these product companies will even be around in ten years is a big question mark.

Which brings me to the point of this post: although I could go on specifically about all the different bike technologies that create at least as many problems as they solve—to wit, tubeless road tires—there is so much turnover in the bike world that your bike is obsolesced in a rather short period of time. Bikes are designed around whatever parts are available at the time of production and there is no telling whether those parts or parts with the same specs will exist in ten years assuming your frame even lasts that long. Any talk of a “lifetime bicycle” is a joke these days not because of the durability of the frame but of the ability to get replacement parts for long-gone “standards”. Want an example? What will become of your “old” rim brake bike? Will you be able to get rim brake replacements ten years from now? And if your bike frame isn’t designed to accept 25 mm wide rims and 40 mm tires, what will you do when all the old school stuff vanishes?

The Shimano front derailleur on my 2006 Marin Novato died a few weeks ago. This bike was inexpensive and is nothing special except that at the time it fit a need of mine exactly. I added fenders and used it for years to commute to work rain or shine. It’s now my rain bike. So it’s had heavy usage and probably has 20-30,000 miles on it. I’ve maintained it well over the years and replaced a few drivetrain parts due to wear and tear. In fact the aforesaid front derailleur is a replacement part. The front derailleur’s spring is held in place by a stop molded into the aluminum body. The stop either wore away from usage or broke—I’m not sure which—and the spring sprang while the bike was sitting unused in the garage and is as dead as a doornail. I went to use it for a recent rainy ride and discovered this sad development. Hey, no problem! I just look for a replacement…except I can’t find one. For whatever reason it is not made anymore and I couldn’t find any spare ones at any online shop or even EBay, the mausoleum for ancient, outdated bike parts. I did discover a bike video by a clever, machine tool loving cyclist who repaired the same derailleur, which had exactly the same problem as mine. More perusing and I discover that other people have had this exact same problem and are also looking for replacement parts. Online “experts” recommend what they think are suitable substitutes. So this seems to be a problem due to the design of the derailleur, ie. it’s built to last “long enough” and then you toss it. Typical Shimano design, in other words.

If you’re the kind of person that has people to do your minor bike repairs and maintenance, this is almost completely irrelevant because you’re going to dump the bike toute de suite at your favorite bike shop and have them take care of it. No worries, right? Except they’ll run into exactly the same brick wall: they can’t you get a replacement and so they’ll have to do some research ($) on a substitute (if there is one). You would think that even if the same part is no longer manufactured that a substitute would be at hand. My bike has a Shimano 9-speed, triple chainring drivetrain and Shimano still makes 9-speed triple drivetrains in their lower tier groups. However these newer 9-speed drivetrains also have redesigned derailleurs with different pull actuation (= the amount of cable pull per index shift) and different cage shaping. Most bike shops don’t have the time or interest in such trivial conundrums. The time they spend figuring out a solution for you—if they’re even interested—is not worth it to them and probably not to you. Instead they’re going to push you to change the entire shifting system or just dump your “outmoded” bike for something new. Which might be great until some time in the future when you need a replacement part and find out that there isn’t one for your “new” bike. So you’re kicking the can down the road, emptying your wallet, and helping your bike shop stay afloat financially in one of their worst years for retail.

I was aware of this potential roadblock, ie. a redesigned front derailleur geometry and decided that since I didn’t want to try to repair the derailleur, I might as well just throw money at the problem and see if it worked. I bought a new Tiagra 10-speed triple front derailleur and installed it. It didn’t work. It didn’t have enough throw for some reason so it couldn’t do more than two chainrings. I figured it was the newer geometry that was causing this, so I bought a NOS Shimano 9-speed road front derailleur on EBay. It appeared to have the older geometry. I spent today installing it and it was a frustrating experience. It’s really a standard road triple derailleur and what I have is what would be called a ‘touring’ crankset. In addition my dead derailleur was part of a groupset that Shimano designed for flat bars, not road bars. The NOS derailleur doesn’t have the right geometry to shift without some rubbing. But at least it had sufficient throw and seemed to work well with my front shifter. But I was undone by it being a road triple (eg. 52-42-30) rather than a touring setup (eg. 48-38-28). I suspect the derailleur cage shaping is slightly different. I spent over an hour trying to get the derailleur to shift without the derailleur cage rubbing a chainring and making an annoying racket. If your eyes are glazing over at this technical baloney, don’t worry: the bottom line was that I can’t get a contemporary Shimano derailleur that will exactly replace what I had. I got it to work but not like the derailleur that broke. It will shift but I can’t use all the gears without listening to a lovely cantata of metal grinding metal in some gear combinations that I had previously used without concern. Maybe an older mountain bike derailleur might work. But Shimano also has changed the pull actuation ratios of their mountain derailleurs and their cage shapes are definitely different than for road chainrings.

The astute among you know exactly where I’m going with this and what the solution is. The solution is to ditch the stupid Shimano Rapidfire shifters and use ‘old school’ thumbshifters. Then I’ll be able to trim the front derailleur and avoid rubbing but at the cost of having to be more mindful when I’m making a front shift. (Otherwise I’ll again be serenaded by grinding gears.)

There is another solution: change the entire drivetrain so that everything is compatible again. I could do that for maybe $500-$600 if I did all the labor myself. To spend that kind of money to “replace a front derailleur” is frivolous and verging on stupid. Or, I could just get a new bike, which would be the final stop on this frustration train.

The myriad front derailleurs along with all the changes Shimano has made over the years have consigned a simple solution—if there is one—in the realm of esoterica. What magical incantations are required to get a front derailleur to work are currently beyond me. So I’ll keep an eye out for a used front derailleur exactly like mine. But my suspicion is I won’t find one anytime soon, if ever.

I’ll try living with the limitations this new derailleur impose. But if and when I tire of them, I’m going to get off the bike technology train and just get an analog thumbshifter, which will work with just about any front derailleur. Change can be so frustrating at times.