I did a lot of off-roading a couple of years back with a touring bike with that derailer.
My gear ranges were 34-42-52 and 13-34 in back. No issues -- no rubbing. That derailer even indexed perfectly with rapidfire shifters and the SR 86mmBCD cranks.
Those cranks had their own issues, I had to bend the teeth of the middle ring to the right a little to prevent the HG91 (8sp) chain riding/slipping on the tips of the teeth, due to wide chainring spacing. Even had this problem with the original wide chain!
My cyclone was on a 1978 Miyata Gran-Tour, the original setup 'cept for the chain, cogs and shifters. These are really durable derailers.
Published capacities usually only apply to worst-case shifting habits, using small-small cross-chaining, etc. With normal use that derailer might handle 30-42-52.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA
(Duncan Granger)
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone know the size of the largest and smallest chainrings that a Cyclone
> front derailleur (date code 1980) will shift? I was running it on a Campy
> triple that I believe was a 36-42-52, but I don't know if that's the max
> range. I'm now selling it on Ebay and someone has asked me...
>
> I have checked through my copy of "The Dancing Chain" and can not find the
> answer... Perhaps someone out there has one still in the box with the
> instructions?
>
> anyone???
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Duncan Granger
> Mountville, PA