The FD is to high to shift from the 28 to the 38. Its height is determined by the 52 tooth outer ring and that forces it too far from the 38 to be effective. Either change the outer to a 48 or change the middle to a 42 and you should be fine.
The inner plate of the FD just doesn't drop down far enough to control the chain from the 28 to the 38. It's not the fault of the TA crank. It's the choice of chainring sizes that's the problem.
Peter Jon White
Peter White Cycles
24 Hall Rd.
Hillsborough, NH 03244
603 478 0900 Phone
603 478 0902 Phax
http://www.PeterWhiteCycles.com
> I've just gotten my new Bates frame built up sufficiently to road test
> (still need to install racks, mudguards, etc.). This is the first bike
I've
> actually built up with a triple (finally conceding to age). I've used a
TA
> Cyclotourist triple 52-38-28, Campy Rally RD, Simplex SLJ Triple FR, and
> Sachs Aris 13-28 6-speed FW. Even with the long-cage Rally, when I
shorten
> the chain enough to just keep it from going slack on the 28x13, it is very
> difficult to shift onto the 28T rear cog when on the 52T chainring. More
> annoying, although shifting down to a smaller chainring works smoothly,
and
> shifting between the 52 and 38 in either direction is no problem, it seems
> completely impossible to upshift from the 28T chainring to the 38T middle
> ring. I always wind up having to shift from the 28 all the way up to the
> 52, then down to the 38. Normally, I'd try to toe out the back end of the
> FR to try to lift the chain a little better off the small ring, but one
> cannot do this except to a tiny extent, due the the Cyclotourist
crankarm's
> infamous lack of FR clearance, i.e. if you toe out the back of the FR, it
> will hit the crankarm when on the large ring. It was exactly this feature
> of the Cyclotourist that caused TA to lose their early dominance in
mountain
> bikes to the Japanese.
>
> Am I doing something wrong, or is this just an inherent limitation of the
> Cyclotourist/ Simplex SLJ combo? Anyone have a guess how large a small
> chain ring I'd have to go to to shift smoothly (or at least shift) up to
the
> 38T middle?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX