[CR] Osgear, Simplex, Campagnolo

(Example: Production Builders:Teledyne)

Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:46:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Hugh Thornton" <hughwthornton@yahoo.co.uk>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Osgear, Simplex, Campagnolo


Further to my remarks on the Osgear, as was originally fitted to the 1949 Gillott that was brought to the list's attention, I was just reading the remarks of someone who had one fitted to a 1930s Alcyon and he said that the shift performance was poor and he was forever adjusting it.  This seems to confirm my opinion that by 1949 it was well past its sell-by date when there were some much more satisfactory alternatives available.

My opinion is that, at that time, the most robust derailleur was the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa and the best shifting was the Simplex Tour de France.  The Campagnolo Gran Sport came out later and was wonderfully robust, but heavier and not as good shifting as the Simplex.  But when you think about it, these two derailleurs between then had the features that are now mandatory on a good derailleur - a hinged top pivot and a parallelogram linkage.  Am I correct in thinking that the Simplex JUY-61 was the first gear to combine both these features?  The only two significant developments since then are the slant parallelogram and index shifting.  Electronic shifting (OT) I see as an abomination on a bicycle.  What on earth use is a bicycle that depends on batteries for any of its essential functions?  (Unless of course it is a battery-assisted bike which is a whole other genre outside our sphere of interest).

Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England