The curious case of the the rubbing chain

My Super Record front (left) shifter (A-type 11 speed) has 4 positions:

1. Inner chainring trimmed - for the biggest cogs at the back

2. Normal inner chainring position

3. Normal outer chainring position

4. Outer chainring trimmer - for the smallest cogs on the back.

If you set it up with too much slack in the cable, you won't be able to get into position 4, so the chain will rub when in 53x12. Tighten the cable and make sure that all four 'clicks' are accompanied by shifter movement. Sounds like you may have sorted it already though.

Related question...

I have internal-routed cables, and would like to add a fine adjuster for the front derallieur but don't want an "ugly" inline adjuster at the front of the bike.  Is there a type that fits on the bare cable between the bottom bracket and the derallieur?

Hi,

As other have said, it's probably the cable tension.

However; one problem I had with my first build, was that the front and rear derailleur cables were tangled in the downtube (only applicable to internally routed frames obviously). This prevented me from getting the front shifting to work properly. To test for this, shift the rear whilst holing onto the front derailleur cable. If you feeling movement in the front cable, it’s crossing over the rear cable in the downtube.

I agree with the set up schedule that BigMel uses. If your outerlimiter screw is 'barely attached to the bike' then it's not acting as a limiter (unless the derailleur actually stops up against it, but that seems unlikely in this case.)

The only addition I would add to BigMel's post is that sometimes you do want to remove tension that you can't take out by hand. In this case, after following BigMel's protocol, before attaching the cable, I screw the inner limiting screw in 2 full turns and then attach the cable. I then undo the screw the 2 turns to take it back to it's set point. The derailleur will then sit agtainst the set screw, but with some light tension / no slack on the cable. However, this is what I did before the cycling gods invented in line adjusters, as these remove the necessity to re-do your cable clamp when the cable has stretched over time. The barrel adjuster is a one time purchase which will make the whole thing easier and more user friendly

If this is new Record with the longer swingarm on the FD then you absolutely need an inline adjuster to get enough tension on the cable - Campag are even nice enough to supply one in the box.

Also, make sure that the noise is chain rub and not just chain noise - my new Chorus groupset is still pretty noisy (after 500km) when in the big ring and the smaller/bigger sprockets, and it's definitely not chain rub.

I'm not sure you are going about setting up the front derailleur in the correct order. There is NO need to tension the cable that operates any mech.

To set up the front changer, first undo and release the cable. The spring built into the changer will send the cage to the inner chainring position. Set the inner limit screw so that the chain changes down to the inner ring reliably (you should use your hand to move the derailleur so the chain goes onto the big chainring, then let go so that the mech changes to the small ring by itself). The chain should avoid rubbing the cage on the small ring/large sprocket combination.

Next set the outer limit screw so that when you manually move the mech, the chain shifts onto the outer ring but does not "over throw" the chain onto your shiny crank arms. Ideally far enough so that there is no chain rub in the large ring/small sprocket combination.
(You will never use large ring/large sprocket . . .)

Now, release everything so the chain is on the inner ring again. Only at this point do you take the SLACK out of the cable and clamp it to the derailleur mech. On the inner ring position the cable should NOT be under any tension, but neither should it be slack - the reason for having an adjuster is to remove slack, NOT to add tension.

When you operate the handlebar gear change lever, the pull on the cable is matched to that needed to swing the derailleur into the outer position. If it doesn't swing out far enough then release back to the inner position and check again for slack . . .

I've found the best order to be -
1 set derailleur limit screws,
2 install cable (hand tight, then give it a tug to bed it in, then take out the slack),
3 couple of turns on a barrel adjuster.

The problem is if you don't have barrel adjusters to use.

Fully released though your gear cables should only be tight enough that they don't flap around, they shouldn't be under any real tension or you're using the cable to do the job of the limit screw.

I get this occasionally - usually solved by giving the cable a little added tension. You say the cable is tight, but is it tight enough? Do you have in-line adjustors for the front mech?

That's the only thing I can think it would be...