[thechainring]

I am looking for a new front derailleur my bike is an 8 Speed and I am not sure which one to get I Have all XTR parts on my bike already except for the front derailleur. I would like to get an XTR one but not sure if any of these will work. Here are the ones I am looking at

Shimano XTR M961
Shimano XTR M971

Or if anyone has a good suggestion to a better one let me know. Thanks

 

[frdfandc]

The front derailleur on your bike now, is it a high clamp or low clamp, and is it a top pull or bottom pull.? Pick what matches your current setup.

Top pull - cable pulls the FD from the top - cables are usually routed along the top tube of the bike.

Bottom pull - cable pulls the FD from the bottom - cables are usually routed along the down tube and go under the bottom bracket, but sometimes a pulley is used on the frame to change direction of the cable pull if the cable is routed along the top tube.

High clamp - pivot points of the derailleur are lower than the clamp that fastens the derailleur to the seat tube.

Low clamp - seat tube clamp is below the pivot points of the front derailleur.

 

[thechainring]

I am pretty sure its bottom pull top swing but does that mean I cant get a bottom pull bottom swing. Do I have to stick with the exact same setup that I have

Well here are some pics of my derailleur that I have now

 

[frdfandc]

You need to stick with the bottom pull/top swing. The frame is what dictates the style of the front derailleur.