Band adapter for front derailleur

Abstract

A band adapter is provided for adapting a front derailleur of a bicycle to smaller sized frame tube. The front derailleur has a fixed member or tubular clamping member that is adapted to be coupled to the seat tube of the bicycle, a chain guide for shifting the chain of the bicycle and a linkage assembly coupled between the tubular clamping member and the chain guide. The band adapter is coupled to the tubular clamping member to decrease the effective clamping diameter of the tubular clamping member. In the preferred embodiment, the band adapter includes an adapting member and a band retaining member which are coupled to the tubular clamping member of the front derailleur for easy installation. The adapting member includes a first adapter with a first curved portion and a second adapter with a second curved portion. The band retaining member includes a first retainer with the first adapter coupled thereto and a second retainer with the second adapter coupled thereto. Preferably, the first and second retainers are constructed of a non-metallic material, while the first and second adapters are constructed of a metallic material. Preferably, the first and second retainers preferably have one or more elastically deformable abutments or hooks.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.