Reliable shifting on a triple

[Smokin Joe]

What's the error you reckon causes it?

One of my bikes drops the chain sometimes - have the impression that it might have something to do with changing gear when rolling over a speedbump. Make any sense?

Yes, it makes sense.

No matter how well adjusted your front mech is if you change gear over a bump or a pothole you can easily lose the chain. We mostly forget how crude front derailleurs really are, all they do is headbutt the chain off the big ring and it has to drop onto the small ring on it's own.

 

[mcshroom]

I've got three. The MTB has flat bar shifters, my shopper/errand bike has bar ends so is friction on the front, and my tourer has 2300 STIs. All are 8sp

All three shift fine and I can't remember the last time I dropped a chain (jinxed myself now). I seem to spend more time trimming the bar ends than the others, but that's probably because I can. The only problems I meet are that the touring bike shifts can be a bit temperamental when I've fitted the tiny 42-32-22 chainset. To be fair to it, that is well outside the designed range of the derailleur. The setup has been fine for 1000s miles (the 2300s are over 20,000 miles old now) though, without incident.

I am considering whether to switch the bar ends onto the tourer when the shifters finally fail, but that's as much so that I can fit proper v-brakes and appropriate levers. It would also allow me to fit a MTB front mech which would be a better fit when I've put the tiny chainset on.

 

[GuyBoden]

It's a big drop when moving down to a small front ring (24t) on a triple, I lose a lot of momentum..........

 

[Ajax Bay]

It's a big drop when moving down to a small front ring (24t) on a triple,

You have to double shift to avoid that drop.

 

[ColinJ]

It's a big drop when moving down to a small front ring (24t) on a triple, I lose a lot of momentum..........

I've chosen a set of chainrings to reduce that effect - 48/36/28.

 

[C R]

It's a big drop when moving down to a small front ring (24t) on a triple, I lose a lot of momentum..........

I have 48/38/28, and don't have any issues.

 

[rogerzilla]

Don't use STI or RF on a triple. Indexed triples are far more trouble than they're worth (DI2 gets round it, at enormous cost). Use thumbshifters or bar-cons, and they're fine.