Thorn Cycles Forum

Technical => General Technical => Topic started by: Philb on March 19, 2014, 11:46:36 pm

Title: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on March 19, 2014, 11:46:36 pm
Hi all. My audax has an Ultegra 6500 triple groupset and I was going to change to my XT M771 26-36-48 crankset and run my 32mm tyres for winter. I took the bike and crankset to my LBS to have this done and the guy said I would need to replace my front deraliur with an MTB one as the road one won't move far enough for the new crankset.

 Is this right? I'm sure a bike I brought from SJS cycles had the same setup with XT crankset and Ultegra front Derailure.

Any thoughts would help.

Phil
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Danneaux on March 20, 2014, 12:54:30 am
Hi Phil!

This might help: http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cranks/can-i-use-ultegra-triple-fd-mtb-crankset-44-32-22-rings-891389.html

There can be another issue besides travel, and that is arc. Most MTB cranksets (chainsets) have smaller large chainrings than their road bike counterparts, requiring a more tightly arc'd front mech to better follow the smaller diameter 'rings.

In your case, the 48T diameter should work fine with your road derailleur in that regard.

As for travel, I'd surely be inclined to adjust the outer travel limit screw and see how much further it will throw. If the BB spindle length and/or chainline are identical, then the derailleur should have enough travel.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on March 20, 2014, 12:57:58 am
Thanks Dan
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: honesty on March 20, 2014, 09:15:10 am
I have that chainset with a road triple front shifter - a tiagra 4503 - on my audax. It works fine. Man at the shop either is being too cautious, or toeing the shimano line, or doesn't know what he's talking about.

EDIT: also a mtb front 9 speed derailleur wont work with STI's (if thats what you have) as the cable pull is different as I understand it! Obviously if you are using bar ends you can friction shift which gets around this problem.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: jags on March 20, 2014, 12:07:59 pm
LBS not for me thank you very much.why not just change the rings on your crankset to TA or Stronglight  you can get almost any size you fancy.


jags.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: honesty on March 20, 2014, 12:17:00 pm
Its a good point. With the 6503's bolt diameter of 130/74mmm you should be able to get down to a 24 tooth cog by just replacing the chain rings.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop on March 20, 2014, 03:28:42 pm
Quote
Its a good point. With the 6503's bolt diameter of 130/74mmm you should be able to get down to a 24 tooth cog by just replacing the chain rings.

Usualy jams under the spider for the 130 rings when you upshift if you go smaller than a 28 on a 74/130 crankset.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: honesty on March 20, 2014, 03:39:56 pm
And thats why Dave works in a bike shop and I dont :) Thanks thats good to know.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on March 21, 2014, 07:51:49 pm
Thanks everyone. I'll try again to fit it and post the result.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on April 01, 2014, 07:35:30 am
Hi all. Ive had the crankset fitted and the derailer band idea position is over the bottom water bottle mount. Apart from getting a different derailer, is there any solution to this?

Help appreciated.

Phil
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop on April 01, 2014, 01:19:24 pm
Which front mech are you using?
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on April 01, 2014, 11:26:59 pm
Hi Dave. Ultegra 6503 band on
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop on April 02, 2014, 09:25:19 am
We use Tiagra which works if the band is positioned just above the lower bottle cage boss, I see no reason why Ultegra shouldn't be the same, can you e-mail me some pics? dave.whittle@thorncycles.co.uk .
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: honesty on April 02, 2014, 09:28:58 am
As Dave says, I have a tiagra one on mine and it goes just above the bottom bottle cage boss. It works really well.
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: leftpoole on April 02, 2014, 12:23:19 pm
Hi all. Ive had the crankset fitted and the derailer band idea position is over the bottom water bottle mount. Apart from getting a different derailer, is there any solution to this?

Help appreciated.

Phil

Hi,
Thorn appear to be the only frames that have this problem. I must admit to finding it a hindrance
at times. Plus if using the ' new ' one size fits all band on mech one has to put a spacer onto the bolts of the bottle cage.
I personally think Thorn should move these as it too appears a one size fits all problem of using the same seat tube for all sized bikes, just shorter.
I now own another brand of bike also and there are no fitting issues.
John
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on April 02, 2014, 11:21:11 pm
Hi all and thanks for the help. The derailleur works, just not very well. Slow to come up and down the rings. It may be just a case of tuning but to my eye, when the chain is on the big chain ring, the derailleur looks  too high.

Phil 
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop on April 03, 2014, 03:11:42 pm
Quote
Hi,
Thorn appear to be the only frames that have this problem. I must admit to finding it a hindrance
at times. Plus if using the ' new ' one size fits all band on mech one has to put a spacer onto the bolts of the bottle cage.
I personally think Thorn should move these as it too appears a one size fits all problem of using the same seat tube for all sized bikes, just shorter.
I now own another brand of bike also and there are no fitting issues.
John

We puropsely put the bosses as low as possible on the tube and supply spacers with the cage bolts.  This gives the end user the maximum room for a tall bottle even on the small sizes, and lowers the centre of gravity of the weight in them (remember a 1l bottle weights 1kg+).

In this case the customer has e-mailed me photo's and he is using a braze on mech with a converter that offers no height adjustment.

Dave 
Title: Re: Thorn audax crankset swap. Road to MTB
Post by: Philb on April 03, 2014, 09:29:06 pm
Thanks Dave. I didn't think it looked right.