3402 miles Front Derailleur Replacement

Today I replaced the front derailleur. It was actually pretty easy with the included detailed directions. I received the Shimano Tiagra derailleur from JensonUSA today. It only took 5 days from the order.

First I removed and cleaned the chain.

I have a quick link on this chain so it is easy to remove.

Then I removed the old derailleur. The spring retainer broke off so the spring did not function. The retainer is a small piece of metal so I am wondering if the tiagra derailleur is susceptible to this failure. If this one fails, I will upgrade next time.

Old derailleur with broken spring retainer.

New derailleur with alignment block pre-installed.

The derailleur has an alignment block installed and a marker tape to get the proper alignment when you attach the derailleur to the bike frame.

You use the cable adjustment barrel to adjust the cable tension to tweak in the settings when the chain is on the intermediate chain ring.

In no time I had the derailleur properly adjusted.

3359 Miles: Front Derailleur Failure

Today I noticed that my front derailleur wasn't shifting. When I got the bike home I noticed that the spring retainer was broken so the spring wasn't working at all.



I ordered a replacement at JensonUSA for $42.99 plus $6.95 shipping. It is a Shimano Tiagra FD-4503. I decided not to upgrade because I felt the derailleur worked well. The 105 was $60 and the Ultegra was about $80 and I did not feel it was worth the difference.

I am still able to ride the bike using the middle chain ring, which is where I normally ride.