Re: [CR] Rare Simplex Juy 53 front derailleur

(Example: Production Builders:LeJeune)

In-Reply-To: <DC004E71FA034F5AB41083FF4BFC45D4@PC11364>
References:
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:22:23 -0800
To: Peter Brueggeman <4peebee@peterbrueggeman.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR] Rare Simplex Juy 53 front derailleur


At 2:04 PM -0800 11/14/09, Peter Brueggeman wrote:
>Simon Bird opined "The thing I find interesting is that front
>clanger, rod or suicide derailleurs stayed in use on racing bikes
>for so long. Why was that? Surely their weight was greater and the
>cost of the Simplex and Huret gears wasn't so great...."

It was the other way around. First came cable-operated front derailleurs, like the Rosa. One problem with wide-range chainring setups (as used by cyclotourists) is that you can throw the chain off the rings when shifting to the small ring. Rod-operated derailleurs were seen as an advance, because they offered better control of the shifting. And they were lighter, of course - no cables, no shift lever, just a simple aluminum rod.

Racers probably followed cyclotouring practice when they first started using front derailleurs. The rod-operated front derailleurs worked quite well for the small gaps between chainrings used by racers, so why change them?

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
2116 Western Ave.
Seattle WA 98121
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com