The best tip I've got is shift with front and rear at the same time. So, let's say you're shifting from your big ring in the front to the small. At the same time, press the small lever on both left and right sides. This will all but eliminate dropped chains.
I've got a third eye on my cross bike. We use them in cross because it's so bumpy it's easy to drop a chain -- I never do (but now that I've said that I'll probably drop it 20 times in tomorrow's race).
You know that if you drop your chain you can pop it right back on by back-shifting, right? Say you drop it to the inside, with your front shifter, shift to the larger ring. You have to keep pedalling, and it'll feel strange because there's no torque on the chain, but it really works about 99.9% of the time.
Not sure about your other ideas. The differential between the two rings shouldn't be a problem. A standard compact is 50-34 (16t) and you'e got a 48-34 (14t).
A compact front derailleur might help. I've been riding compact cranks since they first came onto the market and I've never used a compact derailleur.
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10-28-2006, 05:57 PM #1
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10-28-2006, 06:27 PM #2
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I know this sounds really basic but could it simply be out of adjustment. You need to adjust the screw that tells the derailleur where to stop properly or it overshifts and drops the chain. This is how I stop the problem. I bought a compact derailleur, but then it wasn't good for my eliiptical chain rings so I took it off and got another one that worked better for my crank system. If you are interested in buying it, its an IRD compact double derailleur. Its for a braze on but I also have it attached to a 28.6 problem solvers clamp. PM me if you are interested, it looks brand new as it has ~50 miles on it.
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10-28-2006, 06:27 PM #3
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Thanks for the tip about shifting both front and rear at the same time - I will try this out on my trainer first. I also didn't know about backshifting to get the chain back on - I've actually never experienced any chain dropping before this, so I had no idea what to do other than stop and put it on by hand.
And I guess I'm hoping that the chain watcher thing will also eliminate most of the chain dropping.
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