I'll agree with Harvey here... those SunTour ratchet shifters were great! And there are still a lot of them out there, on various bike boom bikes from Japan and elsewhere. I have a set or two somewhere in a bin, I think.
Tim Fricker Falls Church, VA USa
On 9/2/06, Harvey M Sachs <sachshm@cox.net> wrote:
> Taz Taylor asked <snip>:
>
> And will I have any issues using modern deraileurs with Simplex downtube shifters (ie enough cable pull, etc)?
> ++++++++
> Of course, we assume by modern you mean pre-indexing, on-topic.
>
> The plastic Simplex down-tube shifters, and the cast aluminum ones of the same form, had a rather small equivalent wrap diameter - didn't take up much chain.
>
> This is likely to mean rather large amount of lever movement. If your girlfriend is not very experienced, this may make learning easier. But, personally I like the old Suntour ratchet shifters far better, and they are still cheap. You will have to use your Simplex attachment screws if they mount on braze-ons, as the French threads are coarser.
>
> Good luck!
> harvey "will be in Atlanta the third week of September" sachs
> mcLean va
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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Tim Fricker
bikes@vienna, llc
Vienna, VA, USA
Recumbents, folders, tandems, commuters, etc.