Cycling UK Forum

My Girlfriend has recently purchased a road bike wanting to commute to work and eventually join me on rides. She's still building her confidence on the bike and over the weekend we got out onto quiet-ish roads with some traffic and we got onto changing from the small ring to the big one at the front.

She has hyper-mobility in the joints in her fingers so she can bend them backwards to almost create a bracket shape (!) but as such she cannot push the shifter far enough over to change to the big ring. I've googled around and the only adjustments posts i can see are specifically for the brakes so any help is greatly appreciated!

Ta!

Can you add a photo of the lever?

And have you tested the force needed yourself?

Jonathan

Fit a bar end shifter to operate the front derailleur instead of the STI 'brifter'.
Or convert the bike to a 1x system, and do away with the front derailleur.
Or fit a di2 electric front derailleur/shifter.

FWIW some FDs require a large force to start them moving, and this is difficult for folk using STIs for the first time, especially if they have small/weak hands.

If this is the problem here then you may get some joy with a different FD (what parts do you have?) but otherwise a different shifter as suggested above sound like it ought to be the thing.

cheers

If she stands over the top tube (i.e. with both feet on the ground) and grips the hoods, can she then apply enough force? Similarly, can she then also apply enough force if she grips the handlebars in the 'hooks' with her fingers on the levers?

If she can do so when stationary and standing over the bike, but not when seated on the saddle, then the problem may not be the shifters but a matter of her bike set up being poor.

Previous generation Shimano 11 speed front derailleurs needed a daft amount of force to get them moving, especially if the cable routing is wrong (there are two clamp positions depending on cable entry angle). The newer ones need less force but are a bit of pain to setup, especially if you don't read the instructions. If they've got 105, 5800 is the hand burster, R7000 is a big improvement. 5800 with a sub-optimal cable run you'd be better punching the shifter than trying to use your finger

slowster wrote:If she stands over the top tube (i.e. with both feet on the ground) and grips the hoods, can she then apply enough force? Similarly, can she then also apply enough force if she grips the handlebars in the 'hooks' with her fingers on the levers?

I think that is a very good point. Shifting from the hoods or from the drops. Novice riders (and many modern riders) seem to think they have to ride in the drops all the time so it might be good practice to get her to try the hoods which gives her the confidence in another riding position.

tatanab wrote:I think that is a very good point. Shifting from the hoods or from the drops. Novice riders (and many modern riders) seem to think they have to ride in the drops all the time so it might be good practice to get her to try the hoods which gives her the confidence in another riding position.

Lightbulb moment; I just realized, I don't think I ever change gear, front or rear, campy or shimano, on the drops! There again I only ride on the drops if I can't avoid the headwind. Otherwise I'm always on the hoods or bar tops.

Jdsk wrote:Can you add a photo of the lever?

And have you tested the force needed yourself?

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

Photo attached, I can move the lever itself and it feels like the force required is what I'd expect.

Thanks

Tbh newer sti are quite clunky esp the lower spec ones -my tiagra are.

The longer cable pull and stronger spring I think are to blame.

Cheers James

DI2. You know it makes sense.

rogerzilla wrote:DI2. You know it makes sense.

It makes sense in a practical sense but financially there's just no way it's happening unfortunately!

slowster wrote:If she stands over the top tube (i.e. with both feet on the ground) and grips the hoods, can she then apply enough force? Similarly, can she then also apply enough force if she grips the handlebars in the 'hooks' with her fingers on the levers?

If she can do so when stationary and standing over the bike, but not when seated on the saddle, then the problem may not be the shifters but a matter of her bike set up being poor.

She can't do it standing as a result of the flex in her fingers. She can do the rear derailleur just fine from the right hand shifter

Jamesh wrote:Tbh newer sti are quite clunky esp the lower spec ones -my tiagra are.

The longer cable pull and stronger spring I think are to blame.

Cheers James

Were you able to get around it somehow?

Previous generation Shimano 11 speed front derailleurs needed a daft amount of force to get them moving, especially if the cable routing is wrong (there are two clamp positions depending on cable entry angle).

I would try changing the cable clamp to the alternate position. It's unlikely that the bike was supplied with it in the wrong position, but there is nothing to lose by trying. Shimano sell a tool for determining the correct alignment, but there's little point in buying it in this situation: just try the other position and see if it's any better.

NB From the little that I've read, setting up and adjusting the new 11 speed Shimano front derailleurs is not as straightforward as traditional front derailleurs, so before releasing the front cable to try the alternate cable clamp position, read up first on how to set up and adjust the front derailleur, so that you know what you are doing, e.g. read the relevant Shimano dealer's manual.