Re: Front derailleur issues

On 4/14/2025 6:53 PM, Catrike Ryder wrote:

 After several rides where I stopped to fine tune my old Microshift
deraileur, I rode today without touching it.  It performed all shifts
up and down quietly with no problems.
 "So, my wife asked when I relayed that to her, are you going to return
the new one that's due here tomorrow?"
 "Of course not," I answered. "I will rip the old one off and install
the new one that's designed for a big ring of 50 teeth."
 The old one sits way to high above the 50 tooth ring, and even though
it's never overshifted the chain off the outside in my tests, it's
just wrong.....
 I also have an idler making noise. I think it's bearings are shot. The
Catrike will go back on the repair stand tomorrow without my proposed
modifications.  The parts for that are not here yet.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Most common roller noise is a dry sleeve. It's just a simple journal, often steel on steel, which will show a bright red dust if it's been run dry.
Better designs are steel on bronze or oilite bronze and some are ceramic sleeves.  All of them run better, quieter and longer with some oil on the sleeve.
There are miniature cartridge bearing models which are seldom noisy and run a very long time with factory grease under the seals.
Replacement is seldom necessary. Clean out the crud and oil it.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971