One of the confusing things about Simplex derailleurs of the era was that they were all marked "Prestige". But in the the catalogs, the good quality ones like this were identified as Criterium, while the cheaper ones were identified just by the generic name Prestige. This is one of the things that caused Simplex's downfall on the American market. The public hated the cheap Simplex Prestige derailleurs with thin stamped jockey cages that came on UO-8's and other entry level French bikes, and since the actually very good Criterium derailleurs on the PX-10, etc. were also stamped Prestige, they assumed they were the same junk, and often replaced them with Campy or SunTour, even if it meant filing the Simplex dropout.
Regards,
Jerry Moos "Who replaced a new Criterium with an all-alloy SLJ when he bought a new LeJeune F-70 in 1973".
Houston, TX
Jay Sexton <jvs@sonic.net> wrote: I'm confused. You all are calling this derailleur a Criterium when I saw with my very own eyes Prestige on the back of the derailleur. Which is it?
Ironic, I had the chance to buy this der. The seller is a friend of mine and we were looking at it moments before he put it on e-bay. Being ignorant of Simplex, I declined to buy it. Now I find out that apparently it is a desireable derailleur. jeez louise.
Jay Sexton
Sebastopol, CA