On my second Ultegra front shifter and Ive noticed that they both suffered from the same thing. That is, when shifting down to the small chainring, it takes quite a bit of force on the lever and the chain drops down with quite a BANG out of the derailleur. Upshifting is less than easy, too.

Normal?

On my second Ultegra front shifter and Ive noticed that they both suffered from the same thing. That is, when shifting down to the small chainring, it takes quite a bit of force on the lever and the chain drops down with quite a BANG out of the derailleur. Upshifting is less than easy, too.

Normal?
It's hard to judge what you consider a "bang" and "less than easy". The downshift is audible, but if it really loud as you imply you may have the chain slapping something??? The upshift shouldn't be much harder than the rear shifter. - TF

When shifting UP, it takes a lot more effort than the rear. Its not an easy "click". When shifting down, the paddle puts up considerable resistance and when it finally does let go, its not so smooth.

Stopped by my LBS and pleyd with some of the bikes on the rack. They all seem to do this to some extent....I guess its just the nature of the design.

When shifting UP, it takes a lot more effort than the rear. Its not an easy "click". When shifting down, the paddle puts up considerable resistance and when it finally does let go, its not so smooth.

Stopped by my LBS and pleyd with some of the bikes on the rack. They all seem to do this to some extent....I guess its just the nature of the design.
You outer limit screw may be in just a little too far causing the cable to be too tight. Try turning it out 1/4 turn and see if it improves. - TF