🚲 SHIMANO Unisex FDM313X6 Bike Parts: Ultimate Performance Upgrade for Bikers Review

This Altus front derailleur replaces the 1993 original that no longer worked. While the old derailleur could be removed without breaking the chain, the new derailleur has a rivet where the old one had a screw and therefore the chain must be broken to install. After installation everything works great.

The front derailleur on my old 80's mountain bike wouldn't adjust properly so I thought fitting a new one would help. I am a very experienced bike mechanic and with the right tools, experience, knowledge and problem solving skills it took me several hours to get it right. After a few laps of testing and fine-tuning everything is working fine, so I should keep riding this bike for a few more years.

Much better design and construction than the Shimano (model not listed) it replaced. Two sets of shims allow use on many frame models. The tips of the adjusting screws are not visible at any angle; but the stops can be adjusted by trial and error. Finding the right installation guide on the website is not easy, but installation is mostly intuitive for those who own their own bike.

The Altus M313 derailleur was a great replacement for my sons Trek MT220 which uses the SR Suntour XCM derailleur. The Altus worked well with a set of SR Suntour "Unified" XCM cranksets with three sprockets and 3/32 inch chain. It has been fitted with Shimano EF51 rear derailleurs/brake levers to replace the original clutch derailleurs. If you've spent some time trying to figure out what parts fix your kid's bike, I hope this helps.

Works great. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that some switches and toggles are brand specific. I'm sure this won't happen in all applications, but if you're trying to convert a Chevette into a Cadillac, do your research before you start sketching out the details. I say don't throw details about the problem. But you have to have the endgame and understand what's going on with tuning a part (YouTube is your friend). I'm an old BMX enthusiast and I'm more interested in quality components than how…

Replaced this with Shimano Deore which worked fine. I installed this and after 5 hours of work I can no longer put the chain on the big star. Tried everything like positioning, barrel adjusters, adjusting the high/low screws. A strange anomaly: if I hit a big star, it doesn't hit a small one and vice versa. I'm a bit disappointed in the purchase at the moment as the original worked well. Maybe I made a mistake looking at it. Remember my LBS, but I like DY projects. If I wanted a big bill, I'd…

I had shifting problems on my old Nishiki MTB with a 1997 Axera X derailleur. I couldn't find an exact replacement so I settled on this Altus. It's meant to be omnidirectional to pull the cable from either the top or bottom. While this is true, it is much better suited to downwash. When I put it on top bars, the cable now hangs outside the down tube and could potentially get caught on the trail. Note that I used a crimp connector to protect the end of the cable since I didn't have end caps on…

I know Shimano don't rate the Altus as one of their higher end derailleurs, but this was an easy and affordable upgrade over the standard option that came with my Schwinn, cheap and lightweight , positive and switched easy to set up. It was a bit more difficult to mount with spacers, but the upside is that it's a much sturdier build - very tight. I really wish I could look a little more and go for the FD-M310 bottom mount instead as it sits right under one of my bottle mounts, but I never…