I have taken off the huge Q-factor Shimano 105 9-speed triple crankset and replaced it with an older (I believe) Specialized straight arm crankset, using an absolute minimum Phil BB. Crank and chainring just miss. I had to grind the inner bolt heads to cleat. (Allen wrench sockets are plenty deep, so that isn't an issue. The 105 was a 53-42-28. Concession to age, the "new" is 50-38-24.
My knees love the setup. But the Dura-Ace triple FD flat out couldn't deal with the inner chainring being that far in. (Actually the chainline is a lot closer to "correct than the 105 which was a full cog to the outboard relative to a stock Campy 9-speed hub and cassette.)
Went to the coop and brought home 3 or 4 FDs, Shimano and SRAM. SRAM Force looked to be the best so I went the next step on it.
Next step: Epoxying on a 1/8" plate to the inside of the outer cage. It runs from mid cage down to the end to push the chain harder and further. Not perfect. It needs to push a small amount more to work under medium load. Chain rubs at least a little most of the time. But shifting between middle and big is super! So is inner to middle!
The last step (I hope) will be to take the FD off and tweak both sides of the cage in the bench vise to bring the lower portion further in. This will almost certainly bust the epoxy and I will have to repeat. I'll also look at grinding away a little more of the FD body (And maybe the inner limit stop if I can get access to it so the cage came swing in a little more.)
I just had the thought that perhaps I need to look at my Superbe FDs. I have a near NOS and a used one. That used one - does it reach inboard further than the SRAM or can it be modified to do so? Is it amenable to the same outer cage modification (epoxied plate, not the bending? and can I make a "U" shaped extension for the small chainring. Without looking, I am guessing it has the same bolt and bushing across the end of the cage tha SunTour used for decades on their other FDs. If so, the cage extension shouldn't be difficult.
One thing I love about this is that when I look down, the crankset looks like a track crankset! Well yes, it has lots of rings. But it is where a crankset should be - nice and close to the frame. Happy feet and knees. No more bowlegged climbing.
Ben