Smooth shifting uphill or down.

Pain to keep clean. Dried mud and dirt easily gets jammed in the derailleur causing a cleaning headache. This is especially an issue when riding on wet, clay-based terrain.

This is a good choice for individuals who enjoy XC cycling and seek to race occasionally. Read the instructions carefully when tuning the derailleur as missing a step can be frustrating.

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Deore LX

Looks good on the bike, comes with different shims so it can be mounted on pretty much any frame except some older steel ones. Shifts well enough.

This is a pretty decent front derailleur. It replaced an older STX front derailleur that some how developed a huge problem where the cage wiggled a lot when the derailleur was engaged. This gets the job done but probably needs another adjustment. If I pair it with micro-adjust grip shifters that will most likely solve the problem.

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Shimano LX, SRAM x-Gen

easy to set up a monkey could do it blind folded

none

good buy , easy to set up. cheap (like youre mom)

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xtr,youre mom, lx, youre wife,

Shifts quickly and crisply; looks great.

I sometimes hear chain rub and it's expensive. And it's skipped twice already.

I should get off my butt and adjust it. It's great product.

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LX

Works good, good durability/endurance (a shocking concept for a mega 9 component)

pain in the neck to adjust compared to older 7 and 8 speed designs

Holy *&^%* a mega 9 component that lasts more than 6 months Shimano's chains, cassette's and cranksets (at least LX) have taken a true dive in endurance from the 8 speeds, but the deraillers (front and rear) and shifters (deore) work really well. Looking at some of the other reviews I did have the pins come loose on a mega 9 deore F.D., took me forever to figure out what went wrong the mechanism moved but the chain didn't move or make a sound.

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8 speed LX, 7 speed XT

it works. shifts especially well when going to a smaller chainring. slightly more difficult the other way, but that may be normal. cleans up nicely. looks good and proud to do it's job. priced very well, almost giving it away for how well it works

none. it works and works well.

good little piece of metal that shifts gears. fantastic price! it is really sexy too. it is a great buy

Flawless shifting, good price, little maintenance

None

Mine is the bottom swing, bottom pull model. I put this on my bike over three years ago and its been giving me great shifting ever since. Rarely needs maintenance or adjusting. Ever notice front derailleurs never have a high average rating? Maybe too few riders understand what a front derailleur can and can't do.

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Shimano Altus

shifting, steal at 22 dollors

non that i know of

it works really well, it just does. when to click the shifer it puts the chain on the chainring. i had an LX deralluer with exatly the same mechanism and it never worked as well. it worked ok but not as quickly as the XT, not even close. so i am left with just one question: why? why does the XT deralluer with almost the exact same Mechanism work better than the LX? it is only 4 dollors morem, and im sure its lighter but i cant figure out why it works better.

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LX

** Top Swing/ Top Pull **

Very good part so far!
I've had my share of CRASH and I've not had any malfunctions.

'Fine tuning' it is more intensive.
This depends on the individual who's tuning it.

I used an XT front derailleur, since I bought compact rings. I haven't had any major problems with shifting between the rings. If anything, up-shifting is a little more difficult....more force is needed; but not much!

Can't say that there's much to cry over. No problems a little fine tuning won't fix. --But ya have to get it just right! So far it's been a great little part!

Nothing to diminish from Value or Overall ratings.

This is for the 9 Speed top pull.
Smooth shifting.
Shifts Quite well under pressure.

Chain rub at extremes of shifting.
Fiddly to set up.

As mentioned this took ages to setup. I've set up other mechs on several bikes without anywhere near this hassle.

The predominate problem was chain rub on the outer chain ring. When trying to eliminate this I ended up with rub on inner ring for a while, then on both.

I tried adjusting mech distance from teeth, cable tension and of course the adjustment screws. Eventually I seem to have sorted it out. There is still occasional chain rub when in big chain ring and smallest sprocket on cassette under high tension cranking.

Now it is setup the shifting is very good, I'm just dreading when my inners have stretched and additional tweaking is needed.

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LX.