[Closed] How can a front deraillur be 10 speed, 9 speed or 8 speed only?

Chain thickness?

Teh chains are different width so the mech cage is different widths?????? Having said that I am using a 7 sp on my 9spd bike

well I assume a 10 speed chain is narrower than an 8 speed one so potentially an "8" speed front mech would need a wider gap thus you could use an "8" speed front mech on a 10 speed system.

You see I think this is all bollocks, I've read on here mention of needing a 9 or 10 speed front mech but I think tis just confusion. I cannot find anything "official" about it.

What Jeremy said. Narrower chains use narrower derailers to hit them betwixt the chainrings.

Having said that, most front derailers can be tweaked and cold-worked to work with most setups, assuming there's no cable-pull issues (though even then...)

I long for the day that front derailers are but a distant memory, one of those memories that we laugh at in museums: "Ha ha, L-shaped cranks, UHT suspension, front mechs, who ever thought [i]they[/i] were a good idea!"

What Jeremy said. Narrower chains use narrower derailers to hit them betwixt the chainrings.

This might convince me that you could not use a "10" speed front mech on an 8 speed rear but I still don't believe it, where did you get this wisdom from, or is it an assumption?

Cable pull ratio [i]might [/i]be different as well (not sure if Shimano changed the front one)

Convince yeself not and don't be believing, for, as mentioned, most setups can be made to work fine.

A 10 speed front derailer will work with an 8 speed setup, but, being narrower, it will rub more at the extremes of the cassette when using the middle chainring.

where did you get this wisdom from

Ich bin ein grease monkey. My only front derailer is currently controlled by an ancient Rock Shox BlackBox lockout lever.

Also, this is my favourite tool for working on front derailers:

[url= http://tinyurl.com/parkdt2 ]Park DT-2[/url]

I have a 7 sp mech on a nine speed set up - the shifting is not so good, As the 7 sp mech has a wider cage the narrower 9spd chain is moved less than the wider 7 spd chain would be as there is more free play between the chain and the cage. Pull ratio appears to be the same.

less chain rub on the mech in exchange for the worse shifting - I only have two front rings so its not a huge issue.

Jezzer, the above tool could be your friend.

I've used it sort your described ailment. It works perfectly for tweaking the mech in just the right places to perfect shifting.

Course, it does depend how much it bothers you. It bothers some customers a great deal, so out comes DT-2 🙂

Also, this is my favourite tool for working on front derailers