I have always wondered why Sturmey-Archer didn't develop a derailleur when the writing was on the wall. Or at least buy out Cyclo-Benelux and adopt their own designs.
Afterall, Sturmey-Archer was not independent. They were owned by Raleigh Industries and both fed off each other. Why the biggest bicycle maker on the planet chose instead to be Campagnolo's biggest customer (which they must have been in the 1970s) or indeed Huret's for that matter while they owned one of the premier names in cycle gearing is astonishing to me.
And remember it's not like Raleigh itself gave up on the hub gear for club and racing bikes by 1958. The last machine they made with close or medium ratio hub gears as an option was the 1957-58 RRA Moderne. SA stopped production of the AC/FC, AM/FM and ASC by 1963 precisely when the modern derailleur was an accomplished fact. So it's not like Raleigh and SA were pretending racing and club lads were still using hub gears.
So a puzzlement.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA