The Focus Mares runs front and rear derailleur cables on top of the top tube. To reach the front derailleur the shifter cable runs down along the seat tube and loops around a pulley at the bottom to run back up to the front derailleur. The pulley sits just in the area that will collect the most mud and dirt from the rear wheel. On dry days no problem, but on wet days I think this setup is going to suffer.
Thanks to Speen’s Umlenker, the extra pulley doesn’t need to be. It converts the derailleur to top-pull to achieve a direct cable connection that offers a shift with less friction. In addition it won’t be negatively affected by mud, grass or (winter soon knocking at the door) ice. This German-made little gizmo is available for pretty much any derailleur on the market and is used by quite a number of cyclocross teams.
10/14/11 Short Update: Received it in the mail. Quality leaves much to be desired. The Umlenker is cheaply laser-cut out of stainless steel. Speen has not even bothered to deburr the edges. My verdict: okay for a rusty old bike - unworthy for any decent quality front derailleur. 16 Euro into the recycling bin. Thumbs down on that one!
★ collideous-
29inch posted this
