Also, from Chuck Schmidt's Campy timeline:
"1961 -- In July a revised Gran Sport rear derailleur is introduced With a 10mm spring cover (was 8mm) to improve shifting on six-speed freewheels."
Mark Bulgier Seattle WA USA
>From the archives:
Donald Dundee wrote: According to "Le Monde De Daniel Rebour", page 176, there is a Cyclo freewheel (French) six speed freewheel dated 1963.
Hilary Stone wrote: As far as I am aware the first production bike with a six-speed Freewheel was the Moulton Speed Six in 1964/5. Although not common it was a genuine catalogued production machine built in reasonable numbers. It used a special freewheel with small top sprockets and a modified Cyclo Benelux P60 rear derailleur (modified by Cyclo not Moulton).
Pete Geurds wrote: Thanks for the catalog pages. I was surprised to see a 13-26 six speed Regina freewheel in 1964(?) Was this intended for touring and would it have required 126 spacing?
Chuck Schmidt wrote: Good question! This always puzzled me. In the mid-1950s the racing bikes came with 4-speed freewheels, even though there were 5-speed freewheels available. In the mid-1960s the bikes came with 5-speed freewheels even though there were 6-speed freewheels available.
I have heard that the early 70s Raleigh Professional was the first production bike that came with a 6-speed freewheel (Atom) and I don't think 6-speed freewheels were generally in use until the mid-1970s.
Seems like there was a ten year lag each time before anyone decided they really needed another gear. Quite a contrast to today's drivetrains with the number of speeds in the rear increasing every couple of years.