In praise of the mundane - FD-TY20

[jimlews]

I've been having trouble with the front gear change on my early eighties Dawes Galaxy.
The problem was that the FD (front derailleur) would not change down under pressure.
I tried several, including some quite 'high end' items; XT, LX etc. Same problem with
the additional consequence that the outer plate of the FD hit the inner face of the crank.
The chainset (CS) is a TA pro-vis. These have less clearance between the crank arm
and the outer chainwheel.

Anyway, having rummaged through and tried every FD in my spares box with no success,
all that remained at the bottom of the pile were a couple of despised FD-TY20 bent metal
jobbies. Do I really want one of those on my bike ? Surely, they can't be any good ?
Well, I tried them and they work - REALLY WELL ! I now have the best FD change I've
ever had on that bike. A nice crisp, no nonsense change, every time.

I won't despise the mundane again.

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/collect ... -chainring

EDIT:
One of the despised was marked as having a maximum chainwheel size of 42T. I'm using it with a 46T outer chainwheel and 0.5mm
clearance. Works fine; so there is some leeway with the Shimano spec, it seems.

[rjb]

Yes I've used the same to replace another high end Shimano when I was suffering similar problems.

[simonineaston]

Cool - great to hear about successful solutions

[PH]

All front mechs are pretty crude, if this cheap one works better than a more expensive one, I'll bet that's down to some difference in the spec rather than the quality. I had just such a scenario, a Conondale hybrid supplied from new with the wrong Deore front mech, intended for a different chainstay angle. When someone pointed this out, I swapped it for some cheapie and the shift improved considerably.