| Frenchbuilt |
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| Joined: 18 Apr 2007 |
| Posts: 443 |
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There is something intriguing about derailleurs and I don't know why. One of the reasons I bought my tour de france in 1972 was because of its simplex derailleur. This was super high tech. in looks and the heart of the bike. I guess it was because it was what made life easy or hard that it or any derailleur had appeal. The plastic simplex's which everyone likes to hate are brilliant. To do up a plastic derailleur in the early 60's and then getting them on just about every type of bike built is not too bad. Just look at todays cheap o derailleurs and lots of plastic but made of poorer quality than simplex. So ahead of its time? Not easy to find a plastic part that is 40 years old, sits outside most of life in the rain (in France) and still works.
Not every simplex made it since they crack and rot etc. but even when oiled only with water, they shift very well. The coolest derailleur ever made is the EGS Upcage (from France of course) and I have one sitting in front of me on the desk and its a piece of inspiration each time we work on a new bike project. The upcage had a third "roller" that followed the freewheel for constant gap and allowed the cage to be independent and take up slack with shorter chain length etc. etc. This is not just a pretty Shimano slant parallelogram cnc job.The next coolest is naturally the Mavic Mektronic. All plastic and shifts faster than you can and no wires "radio controlled" Question: what will we collect in 30 years? By the way, when EGS and the upcage went out of business as they being French were doomed anyway, their patents were auctioned off and you know who bought them.
Here is the third roller:
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