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10 weird and wonderful derailleurs – and how they changed cycling
- Nivtitif 8y agoSome nice derailleurs here ! The Campagnolo copy is pretty spot on, even on the brand engraving. I'm surprised there isn't any Simplex derailleurs. Until the 90s they were in the top with Shimano and Campagnolo. More good derailleurs here : http://www.disraeligears.co.uk http://www.disraeligears.co.uk I kinda love the Landrider auto-shift : http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/LandRider_Auto_Shift_red_derailleur.html http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/LandRider_Auto_Shift_red...
- leetbulb 8y agoAside from what I would imagine being an absolute nightmare on climbs, the auto-shift is genius. Thanks for sharing that! I cannot imagine the maintenance on some of these designs.
- awongh 8y agoI've always felt that there are a lot of parallels between bicycle design and digital technology- how standards get picked, how that influences what gets made and what is successful and what fails. Is the current parallelogram design of the derailleur really the best? There's no way to find out, because so much already depends on how a derailleur currently works and would be very slow to change. Also consider that the original mountain bike wheel diameter of 26 inches was apparently picked because the import tariffs from asia (a large majority of all bicycle parts are produced in asia) on those goods was significantly lower than larger wheel sizes (small wheels were considered to make a bicycle a children's toys and taxed at a lower rate) Compare that with how we ended up with javascript as the default standard language of the web browser....
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago>With the introduction of this model, Shimano finally gave in to the inevitability of having to sell its top-of-the-line groupset to fat middle-aged men who want low, low gears. The bike industry is as infested with fashion and status signalling as any other.