5. How To Adjust Your Front Derailleur
Applies to most 3-chainring derailleur systems. Adjust your Rear Derailer
IMPORTANT: Nuts and bolts on your bike should always be tightened to the manufacturer's specifications.
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Today we’re going to learn how to adjust the front derailleur. Make sure that you’ve already set up your rear derailleur, as you will need to access all of your rear gears for this tutorial.
Front Derailleur Components
Height Adjustment
The first step is to adjust the derailleur’s height and angle using the positioning clamp that attaches the derailleur to your bike’s frame. This can be a bit tricky, since tightening the clamp’s bolt will set both height and angle at the same time. To make things easier, tighten the clamp so that it is secure, but loose enough to move it around with your hand.
For correct height adjustment, position the bottom of the derailleur cage as close to the largest sprocket teeth as possible, so that it still clears. Manufacturers recommend a 2mm spacing, but this is only meant as a general guide and not a rule. The lower the cage is, the better it will shift. While you’re in this position, take a quick look at the curvature of the large chainring and the outer derailleur cage, to make sure no part of the cage is rubbing on the chainring.
Angle Adjustment
The derailleur angle is set by looking down from above. This can be tricky and requires some patience, as the shape of the derailleur cage is often not straight. You’ll want to imagine a centerline in the middle of the cage, which should line up with the center line of your frame. Once the angle is correct, you can completely tighten the positioning clamp.
Limit Screws
There are two gear limit screws. On older derailleurs the low-gear limit is closest to the frame, but some newer models have reversed the screw’s positioning.
Low Gear Limit
To adjust the low-gear limit, first make sure your chain is shifted to the largest sprocket in the rear, and the smallest sprocket in the front. The low-gear limit stop stops the derailleur from shifting past the smallest chainwheel and throwing the chain onto the bottom bracket shell. If it is too loose, the chain will fall off when you downshift to the small chainring. If it is too tight, it might not shift down at all. Ideally, you want to set up the inner plate so that it barely clears the chain in the lowest gear. However, triple chainrings like this one sometimes require a tiny bit of extra spacing.
High Gear Limit
To adjust the high-gear limit, shift the chain into your highest gear, that is, smallest sprocket in the rear, and the largest sprocket in the front. The high-gear limit prevents the chain from shifting past the largest chainwheel and throwing the chain out into your pedals. Ideally you want the cage to stop just after it clears the chain on the large chainring.
Shifting Adjustments
Now that both limit screws are set up, shift back to the largest sprocket in the rear, and the smallest in the front. Make sure your front shifter is in the lowest gear position, and pull the shift cable to eliminate any extra slack, before tightening the cable bolt.
Shift the front derailleur to the middle gear, and run through the entire range of rear sprockets to make sure the chain does not rub on either side of the front derailleur cage. If it does rub, you can adjust the trim by tweaking the barrel adjuster on your front shift lever. If you have an older friction shifter, often you will have to manually adjust the trim while riding.
This tutorial was based on the most common type of drivetrain, and assumes that you are using the components your derailleur was designed for. If you have a customized set of chainrings and/or derailleurs, you may need to try some different techniques, or even take your bike into a shop for further adjustment.
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Recommended Books:
- Zinn & MTB
Mountain Bikes: Maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting. - Zinn & Road
Road Bikes: Maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting. - Sutherland's Manual
Sutherland's handbook for bicycle mechanics on CD-ROM. - Park Blue Book
Hundreds of photos and hundreds of procedures.
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66 Responses to “How To Adjust Your Front Derailleur”
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and oh, if you have a maintenance/repair question, please ask in the help forums.
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Thanks Maurice. Often stripped out allen keys have to be drilled out if you can’t find something to turn them. Others may have some better suggestions… try posting your question in the forums.
These videos are very useful.
Thank you for this you have saved me allot of hassle. I was struggling with mine but came across this vid via google and it helped me wonders. Thanks again.
This site is great, thanks! All I did was type “adjusting” into google and it suggested “adjusting front derailleur” which brought me straight here!
Great! I am here in Brazil watching your lessons. You did it very clear, in an easy and informative way. I got impressed. From now, your site is added to my favorites list. Thank you very much to share your knowledge with the world.
Great info,
I have just been setting up the gears on my new bike. 21speed. All the rear gears select fine, but i just cant get the front derailer right. It selects the three front sprockets just fine but the chain rubs (only slightly, but very annoying) on the cage when the very lowest & highest gears are selected on the rear sprockets . Any help would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Ad.
Hi Ad, sounds like your high and low limit screws may need to be loosened off just a little bit. These are also know as the “H” and “L” screws on your derailleur. Check the video above for tips on adjusting these.
My front change goes to the smaller sprocket great but not the middle one on a down change so well, have i missed a trick here?
Excellent tutorials. He explains the background and is not patronizing . Cheers bud.
Thank you for the video of the front derailer. It helped a lot! I think i will be more cautious on what to do with my bike. I was going to get rid of it but after i knew how to do it from this video. Thank you again so much.
I have a brand new bike purchased through mail order. When trying to adjust the front derailleur I noticed the sprocket didn’t turn straight. It wobbled back and forth as if the crank shaft was not mounted squarely. I checked the tightening bolt and it seemed tight. I didn’t know about a crank remover (until I watched your other tutorial) so I couldn’t figure out how to remove the crank but I managed to wiggle the crank shaft enough to make the sprocket turn without wobbling. I tightened the bolt but now I can’t seem to get the front derailleur adjusted correctly. No matter what I do it either rubs on the inner side of the cage in high gear or on the outer side of the cage in lower gear. Could this be because the crank shaft is not mounted correctly?
Mark, it does sound like your crank might not be correctly mounted on the bottom bracket spindle. Here’s a video that shows how to remove and install the cranks… maybe it will help you diagnose the problem: http://bicycletutor.com/replace-cotterless-cranks/
If not, you could upload some detailed photos of your crank and bottom bracket area in the help forums and we’ll see if we can help figure it out.
Hi got a cannondale prophet and 2ring/bashguard. When I shift down to 1st gear on the front (smallest) from the middle it makes a “ting” sound like its releasing a lot of tension and smacks my frame. I’ve read a lot of these comment and am still confused. My cable tension isn’t that tight should it be tighter to counteract the spring? Thanks
Hi John,
When you shift down the derailleur will release tension quickly. However, it shouldn’t smack the frame. You’ll likely need to tighten the “L” limit screw as explained in the above video. Hope that helps!
Thank you very much for this video (and the one on adjusting your rear derailleur). You saved me $80. I was going to put my newly purchased Avanti hybrid into the shop because the gears were giving me the pips!!
I have also recommended this site to my two sons who also could do with help with bike repairs.
Kudos;-)
Great tips that are straightforward. I used your instructions to index my shimano 105 gearset. Changes like a dream!