bar-end to mountain conversion question

"Robert Strickland" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I want to set my everyday/sport-tourer up with cable splitters so that I
can
switch between drop bars w/ bar-end shifters and mountain bike bars with
mountain bike shifters. Therefore, I want to replace my 105 front
derailleur
with an XT so that I can use LX or XT shifters on the mountain bike bars
without compatibility problems. The problem is that the XT derailleur tops
out at a 48 tooth large chain ring and I have a 50 tooth large chain ring.
Can I get away with a two-tooth difference or am I asking for trouble
with
the shifting of the LX/XT shifters? Also, anyone with experience with such
a
set-up got any advice on the best way to set it up? Thanks in advance.


It can handle 50T. Try it.



--
Robin Hubert

Is there a reason that you need an LX/XT front derailleur rather than
the 105? Is this a known problem, that a road front derailleur and a
mountain front derailleur won't index with the other type of shifter?
If so, won't you have shifting problems when you go back to the road
shifters?

I have assumed that the front derailleurs were like the present rears,
where the mountain and road lines are interchangeable when it comes to
indexing.

The problem is that bar-con shifters can shift road or mountain front
derailleurs
but mountain shifters won't shift road front derailleurs. Therefore, I solve
my problem
most simply by using a mountain front derailleur. The hitch is that I've got
road
cranks with a larger big chain ring than the mountain derailleurs are
designed for. So,
your assumption about front derailleurs is a bad assumption, although it
does hold
true for rear derailleurs. Thanks for the input though.

Rob

In article ,
"Robert Strickland" wrote:


Is there a reason that you need an LX/XT front derailleur rather than
the 105? Is this a known problem, that a road front derailleur and a
mountain front derailleur won't index with the other type of shifter?
If so, won't you have shifting problems when you go back to the road
shifters?

I have assumed that the front derailleurs were like the present rears,
where the mountain and road lines are interchangeable when it comes to
indexing.

The problem is that bar-con shifters can shift road or mountain front
derailleurs
but mountain shifters won't shift road front derailleurs. Therefore, I solve
my problem
most simply by using a mountain front derailleur. The hitch is that I've got
road
cranks with a larger big chain ring than the mountain derailleurs are
designed for. So,
your assumption about front derailleurs is a bad assumption, although it
does hold
true for rear derailleurs. Thanks for the input though.

Rob

Note that Sheldon Brown can hook you up with the unusual NOS "problem
solver" derailleurs he can use to make road/MTB hybrid indexed front
setups work with each other:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers.html#front

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club