105 5800 FD trim position

[SpokeyDokey]

Old bike 105 5700 vs new bike 105 5800.

5700

Shifting down from the big ring to small ring took the FD as far inboard as possible. If I needed to trim following a shift from large to small ring (ie when in small ring and smallest cogs) a slight shift of the big lever effected a slight outboard shift of the FD.

5800

Shifting down from the big ring to the small ring takes the FD into the 5700's trim position as above. A slight flick of the small lever now trims to the 5700's as far inboard as possible position.

Thought I was going nuts until I read the online 'dealer' manual which clearly shows this.

What's the reasoning for this logic change?

 

[Sea of vapours]

I like it that way. It favours the scenario where you shift down to the small chain ring when somewhere in the middle of the cassette, dropping into the trim position, which is probably where it needs to be. Clearly, if you prefer to shift all the way to the largest sprocket before shifting down at the front then it's not what you want. Neither is clearly right or wrong, so I'd speculate that feedback suggested that the first scenario is the one more people prefer.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I like it that way. It favours the scenario where you shift down to the small chain ring when somewhere in the middle of the cassette, dropping into the trim position, which is probably where it needs to be. Clearly, if you prefer to shift all the way to the largest sprocket before shifting down at the front then it's not what you want. Neither is clearly right or wrong, so I'd speculate that feedback suggested that the first scenario is the one more people prefer.

Yes, that makes sense.

I hadn't realised this change had been made until I test rode a bike with 5800. Presume all the FD's north of 5800 in the hierarchy now do the same?

As an aside when did FD's get so complicated?

Reading the aforementioned online manual I now see that part of the installation process is measuring the FD cable angle as it meets the FD itself and then selecting a position for an on/off pin based on the resultant measurement. Obviously a one-off process but I don't understand the 'why'.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Presume all the FD's north of 5800 in the hierarchy now do the same?

6800 certainly does. I don't know about R8000 or Dura Ace, other than that they're significantly different with no long arm, which also means (I presume) that the angle measurement thing is no longer required. (Having tried deliberately setting that pin in the wrong place, it leads to more effort being required when shifting up. It still works, but it's not as easy to shift.)