Cycling UK Forum

My Ultegra triple front mech has come to the end after 12 years. Will a Shimano mtb triple front mech work with the Ultegra lever ? There's loads of mtb ones on ebay but few road ones with the correct clamp size.

No*, track down a suitable road triple, e,g, braze on with an adaptor band of the right diameter.

*Maybe with anchoring the cable on the wrong side of the bolt but maybe not.

I did use Ultegra triple STI levers with an XT front mech for a few years, around 2000, by clamping the cable on the wrong side of the bolt. 9-speed, I think.

It was very fiddly to get the mech position and cable tension right, but it worked fairly well once set up.

Note that current front mechs may well be different enough not to work, in terms of both clamp bolt positioning and cage shape.

Hi joeegg, I’ve got an unused Ultegra FD-6703 triple band on 28.4 - 31.8 (grey) lying around in my spares box. PM me if you are interested.

Cheers, Hugh


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Ultegra 6703 and 105 5703 are cross compatible. And besides, lots would say that any Shimano RIOAD triple FD will work with your triple shifter - the pull ratio having not changed.

joeegg wrote: ↑31 Mar 2023, 8:14pm My Ultegra triple front mech has come to the end after 12 years. Will a Shimano mtb triple front mech work with the Ultegra lever ? There's loads of mtb ones on ebay but few road ones with the correct clamp size.

What clamp size do you need?

6703 front derailleurs are, if memory serves, optimised for 52/39/30 chainsets. A Shimano 105 5703 front mech is looking for a 50/39/30 chainset, but I would wager that a 5703 front derailleur would work better than an MTB one on a 52/39/30 chainset.

Or are you perhaps asking this question because you plan to install an MTB chainset?

joeegg wrote: ↑31 Mar 2023, 8:14pm My Ultegra triple front mech has come to the end after 12 years. Will a Shimano mtb triple front mech work with the Ultegra lever ? There's loads of mtb ones on ebay but few road ones with the correct clamp size.

I have a Shimano 4703 front mech with a 34.9mm band that I bought to fit on our tandem. However it didn't work with the wide range of chainrings we run. It has been fitted and tried out but is as new. If of interest to you PM me. All Shimano triple front mechs work with all road shifters.