Stronglight Chainsets

[frank9755]

Thanks Colin, Jerry,

I think both of those mods would help, however I have decided to give in and have just ordered a Shimano chainset. I don't want to spend more time fettling and not get a good result as it's a new (and expensive bike) and I really want it to be right.

I think I can still use my small Stronglight ring on the Shimano chainset (both 74 bcd) so, with any luck, it will give me the gearing I want + an easy life!

[CREPELLO]

Such a shame . The Stronglight looks so much sleeker IMO...'though if your bike is modern looking , there's nowt wrong with the Shimano, but for the cost.

[frank9755]

Actually on cost there isn't much in it.

Stronglight was my first choice but now I just want it to work!

[CREPELLO]

Actually on cost there isn't much in it.
Stronglight was my first choice but now I just want it to work!

Stonglight chainsets are incredably cheap. What Shimano replacement are you looking at?

Why not just give the mech cage a tweak? You've got a lovely new bike there, I know and you don't want to be bending bits of it about, but I've been building my dream bike over the last year and the result is now perfect. No harm to bicycles occurred in the production of this bike
On previous generation Shimano (up to a year or two ago) and certainly Campag I could almost guarantee the modification to work.

The number of of front shifting problems we see on forums is regular and frustrating. I'm not advocating my fix for all front mech problems, but the cage is incredibly sensitive and yet with the right approach, it's easy to fix.

Just bend it like, er...

[frank9755]

A big advantage of Stronglight is the wide choice of rings. A chainset with a standard combination is cheap, but if you buy a couple of extra rings it goes up. I ended up paying about £70 to get a 26/39/50 (and a couple of surplus spare rings). The new Shimano 5703 105 triple) is £100. BBs are about the same. £30 on a £1700-ish total bike cost isn't enough to risk it not working optimally.

Having looked at the upshift on the stand quite a lot I think you are on to something with bending the mech. But that would make the inner plate clash with the middle, so I'd have to put the mech up a bit, etc...

I've ordered the Shimano now!