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I've been playing with this on and off and generally just living with it for about the last four months now, and I have to say it's affecting my riding enjoyment.
Equipment: Sram X5 front, 28-42. SLX rear, 11-36. Sram X7 2x10 shifters and der's, RD long. Chain Sram 1051. Frame SC Chameleon.
Chain was sized old school big-big +2 links out of RD and then rethreaded.
Originally I was running an X7 triple FD that couldn't help but drop the chainover the outer ring (ie onto the crankarm) when shifting up on the front unless you made sure you were in one of the bottom three rear cogs.
Is now running a 2x10 FD (shorter cage is the main difference I think) and is generally better. Can be a pig to shift up once shifted down. Sometimes (usually under big torque) randomly chucks the chain off the big ring onto the little ring just to see you make comedy leg motions. Generally runs fine on the small ring with no real issue other than the afore mentioned lack of liking for upshifting.
Backend generally shifts fine.
I'm currently running the FD quite a bit higher up the seat tube than i should (I had heard this might help and it might have) - part of the problem has been my less than scientific approach to solving the problem once it became apparent. Sram 10spd chains not being happy about coming apart once you've joined them doesn't help this.
I'm beginning to wonder if part of the problem is actually the short rear triangle on the Chameleon - have I just got a tension issue from having quite a big loop of chain (42-36 remember) in quite a short space?
I'm giving serious consideration to just buying a new chain and starting again from scratch but wondered if anyone had any tips.
I've never had a problem making regular Shimano triple setups work properly.
I picked up the SRAM kit with an eye to cheapness to see if I liked 2x10 and found that I do. When it's playing nice it's great. I have caught myself wondering about going 1x10 say with a 32 up front and an 11-36 but I think that would end up being either a compromise in flexibility or leave me always needing a different bike reasonably handy.
The other point that I hadn't considered until last night ( and this links with the chainstay length thng ) is - is it worth trying a chain guide on there with my current setup? would need to be bb mount as no iscg tabs...
or an ISG05 with a BB adapter (go 1x10 and stop the messing about), I have a single ring chain device going cheap in the classifieds also 😉
lol... sidestepping the shameless plug (although may come back to this....):
Can/does chainstay length have an impact on whether such a big loop of chain is going to work without help?
Chain may be two long and fd too high pictures would be good.
We had major problems with a brand new Lapierre with a Sram Double, either not shifting up cleanly, or throwing the chain off the outside. Being a bolt on jobbie, we were very limited on the adjustments we could make, and eventually slung it in favour of a Shimano double that worked fine. (my experience only, others' may differ completely).
Just a thought, is your front mech a proper double specific, or a short caged version for a double and bash, as they are different and don't work well in the wrong application.
go 1x10
Will try to get pics up tomorrow - in shutdown getting ready for early work morning right now.
Front mech is, indeed a proper 2012 Sram 2x10 model. Apart from the Shimano SLX 11-36 cassette and the Sram X5 28-42 crankset (super cheapy that I could write off without feeling too bad about it) the FD and both shifters are 2012 X7 2x10's. The RD is a 2012 long, carbon cage (! hahaha) X7 10 speed.
I hadn't considered tensioners or guides etc when I put it all together as I'd never needed any such thing. I now see that my choice of a 42 big ring has pretty much wiped out everything but the Superstar that gets iffy reviews although in truth an extra .5-1 mm on the driveside might help chainline a little. I wasn't sure I wouldn't miss the 44 too much. I do find uses for 42x11/44x11 just not usually on the same ride that the low set is great for.
My main concern (apart from ring size capacity!) with any chain device would have to be the Chameleon frame shape. I'm only just clearing the chainstay with a 175 crank as it is. It was tight enough that a cable tie helping the protector stay on had to leave!
Pictures from several angles would be good - detail both front and rear. I highly doubt the chainstay length has anything to do with it- they may be shorter, but it's a negligible thing.
Might be a daft question but is the bottom bracket correctly spaced if the chainstay clearance is so tight?