pls no derailling the thread
June 8, 2018 2:18 AM   Subscribe

Mike Sweatman writes in the Guardian about ten historically important derailleurs in the development of modern cycling.
posted by Dim Siawns (45 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is a wonderful article and it made me very happy to see such a thing in the Guardian at lunch today.

May I also draw your attention to one of the funniest comments I've read for some time.
posted by deadwax at 4:16 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]


A few things are worth adding to this, at least from the road side if things. The lever-actuated Cambio Corsa, Shimano's parented slant-parallelogram (when the parent expired in the 80s, competitors quickly copied the design), and at least something to represent the electronic shifting of the past ten years or so.
posted by entropone at 4:31 AM on June 8, 2018


Fun article, if a little arbitrary in its selection. The Mavic SSC was a notable omission: incredible, eccentric French engineering, completely rebuildable down to the tiniest part. Nothing riveted or pressed, circlips all the way! And the Suntour Superbe Pro. Equal parts jewellery, swiss watch and bike part.

Prior to the advent of indexed shifting, mix and match mechs and levers were the norm, not the exception. I wouldn't want to go back to friction shifting, but there was something wonderfully ideosyncratic about the random pairings of Simplex, Ofmega, Huret, Campag, Mavic, Modolo and all the rest.
posted by tim_in_oz at 4:46 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


Derailleurs are such clever little contraptions. I found myself wishing for a deeper dive into the mechanics of these; was thinking this would be more of a history of derailleur engineering, but it turned out to be more of a history of cycling as seen through the lens of period derailleur models.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:50 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Hrm... No Zap/Mektronic, no Airlines, no Rotor Uno.
posted by strange chain at 5:10 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Shimano's parented slant-parallelogram

I think you'll find that the slant parallelogram was a Suntour, not Shimano patent, assuming the saintly Sheldon Brown is correct.
posted by tim_in_oz at 5:12 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


I think you'll find that the slant parallelogram was a Suntour, not Shimano patent, assuming the saintly Sheldon Brown is correct.

Something from Suntour should have been included to make the list complete. Probably Sachs as well seeing as if it wasn't for Sachs SRAM wouldn't have had a rear derailleur. Still, fun list and I love seeing all the old names (like Vittoria, Tommaso, Paul) in context instead of just some random cycling brand.
posted by photoslob at 5:33 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]




What a delightful article. Thanks for posting it.
But how about a little high-tech love for the SRAM eTap wireless electronic derailleur?
posted by cccorlew at 6:51 AM on June 8, 2018


Ctrl+F "clutch" Nothing?

Man, the derailleur is such a nifty little thing. I still work part-time as a mechanic in a bike shop so I can score the discounts, and I'm slowly converting others in my jobby-job office to mountain biking (there's 11+ miles of some awesome trails less than a mile from our office).

The difference between a high-end and low-end derailleur is enormous. A great derailleur just works. You want to shift? It shifts. Under power? It shifts. Cross chained? It shifts. Bouncing through a rock garden? It shifts, it doesn't complain, and it does it every single time.

I think clutched derailleurs are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm running Shimano M8000 on my mountain bike with no front derailleur, no chain guard, no bash guard, and I've never dropped the chain. I have SRAM CX1 on my gravel bike (also uses a clutch but is a little different than Shimano's system) and it's the same deal. Perfect every time.

It's hard to quantify to people the difference between something like Shimano Tourney and XTR, but once they ride it, they know it. I mean, just holding the two derailleurs in your hand you can see the engineering that went into something like XTR. Tourney looks disposable by comparison.

this ain't a single speed discussion. bikes are tools. use the right tool for the job.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:04 AM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]


Also, Paul's components are just beautifully functional.

I put Paul Klamper (mechanical disc brakes) on one of my bikes. They're not the lightest, but they work damn well and they're extremely easy to adjust (independently adjustable pads, yo).

And looking at that Paul derailleur, then the Paul Klampers, you can see that the man just has an aesthetic that comes through in his design.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:08 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ouch! Maybe they are just beginners riding in the mountains that like nice equipment?
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. Its appearance indicated that the portly wallets of portly gentlemen counted for more than the alluring image of speed, youth and fitness that Shimano had carefully cultured for Dura-Ace over two and a half decades.
posted by achrise at 7:09 AM on June 8, 2018


achrise, I laughed at that, but I think the author is being harsh. There's been an arms race to add more gears going on since the 1980s (we're now up to 12-speed cassettes). You can only go so small with small gears, so the extra gears need to be bigger, and to shift across a wide range of gears, you need a long-cage derailleur to wrap up the extra chain. MAMILs may be part of the business plan, but it's simplistic to attribute the whole thing to them.
posted by adamrice at 7:16 AM on June 8, 2018


I don't know anything about bikes or derailleurs but the photos were like looking at an exhibition of beautiful abstract sculptures.
posted by moonmilk at 7:56 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


oh ho ho I AM going to derail this thread
with cycling even

I was chosen as a volunteer at the French Road Cycling Championships 😎

ciao ciao les amis, je vais voir quelques-uns des meilleurs dérailleurs du monde
posted by fraula at 8:25 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


" I wouldn't want to go back to friction shifting"
I love the shifting of my Campagnolo Nuovo Record derailleurs on my 1974 bike.
My other bike is a new single speed.
posted by davebarnes at 8:25 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Not even a mention of Suntour? Feh. The Suntour slant parallelogram designs of the 70's were a game changer, that everybody stole as soon as the patent ran out, (including at least 4 on their list).

A Suntour Vx-S, a pair of Simplex retrofriction DT shifters, and a 7s ramped freewheel is all one truly needs in life.

Here's a resource for those in need of more derailleur porn: Disraeli Gears.
posted by jetsetsc at 8:26 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]


... Is nobody else gonna join the writer in giggling at the Ofmega Mistral? Because that was pretty giggle-worthy.
posted by asperity at 8:55 AM on June 8, 2018


My garage has in it four bicycles and one two-seater tricycle. Only one of these vehicles is single-speed, because it's my daughter's old bike that she learned to ride when she was 3. The others are all 3-speed except the trike which is 8-speed. I'll be upgrading my main bike to 8 gears shortly.

I have precisely 0 derailers. All four of the bikes with gearing use Shimano hubs. The very notion of having exposed chains and gears seems like a recipe for disaster for my clothes.

I'm sure they're handy for racing, though.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:56 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


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. Its appearance indicated that the portly wallets of portly gentlemen counted for more than the alluring image of speed, youth and fitness that Shimano had carefully cultured for Dura-Ace over two and a half decades.

I'm feeling very attacked by this article.
posted by GuyZero at 9:14 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]


And I'm not ashamed to admit that I need to ride 34-34 on my next bike.
posted by GuyZero at 9:14 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


30-46 and 40-42 are on two in my stable.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:31 AM on June 8, 2018


I have a 42-32-20 Suntour XC Pro crank and a 13-34 six speed Suntour Winner Pro freewheel on one of my bikes.

I laugh in the faces of people (all men, of course) who are proud of their high gearing.
posted by jamjam at 9:32 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Switching from 11-25 to 11-28 as a right of passage was waaaay more traumatic than puberty.
posted by klanawa at 9:39 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


I have a 42-32-20 Suntour XC Pro crank and a 13-34 six speed Suntour Winner Pro freewheel on one of my bikes.

I'm going to assume this is not a road bike

I laugh in the faces of people (all men, of course) who are proud of their high gearing.

well gearing isn't a moral issue, but it's not very hard to spin out 42-13 on a moderate downhill or probably even a flat road. but it seems super weird to me that someone would be proud (??) of their gearing. like, whatever works for what you're trying to do.
posted by GuyZero at 9:40 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah, the Ofmega Mistral was pretty ridiculous. Plastic derailleurs? Not exactly a milestone in the history of cycling.

When I was in college, I bought a 1968 Raleigh Competition that had Huret Jubilee derailleurs. Super-minimal, super-light, super-easy action. I wouldn't want to go back to friction shifters, but those were great.
posted by adamrice at 10:28 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am the only one convinced that derailleurs are a triumph of engineering against common sense? That hanging a bunch of delicate, finely-machined parts out there in the mud is a terrible idea and it's only through a hundred years of development that they work passably, at best, on a good day, if you've spent far too much time and money nurturing them?

And that the success of derailleurs is a success for manufacturers not for cyclists, coz the cyclists end up having to fork over their hard-earned money time and time again coz derailleur gear trains wear out so fast that the poor cyclists are on the hook for eternity?

No? It's just me.

Anyway, I'll just be over here with my Rohloff hub gear and almost complete lack of maintenance, eyeing up the Zerode gearbox bike for when I replace my final and only derailleur bike.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]


But how about a little high-tech love for the SRAM eTap wireless electronic derailleur?

There's definitely an air of retro-grouch in the piece but I will second eTap being revolutionary. I've been riding eTap for a year and a half with ZERO issues. I was the first in my group of cyclists to buy it and I was confronted with all the things that would inevitably go wrong like sweat in the shifters, button batteries failing, battery tabs breaking off, etc. All of it was garbage. I just replaced my first set of 2032 batteries in the shifters 4 months shy of 2 years. eTap is magical and exactly what electronic shifting should be.
posted by photoslob at 12:11 PM on June 8, 2018


Seems weird to argue gear ratios when terrain, traffic, outside tire diameter and crank length all play a part. I'm pretty happy with my current setup, but if I had to deal with major elevation every ride instead of keeping up with car traffic on relatively flat terrain I'd want something completely different. I've also been riding ride share bikes a lot lately and the insane cadence required to even halfway keep up with cars makes me feel like I'm on a fixie (not a fan of fixies). Happy someone invented the derailleur, at least until gearboxes come down in price... a lot.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:34 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


One particularly fierce chieftain was sporting an early 90s long-arm Deore XT rear derailleur on a chain round his neck, which, he proudly explained, had been upgraded with a stronger spring for quicker shifting in muddy conditions.

Hi, I'm sorry, I don't remember you.
posted by bongo_x at 12:47 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


MAMIL

So that's what I am. (Although my bike isn't expensive.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:07 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am the only one convinced that derailleurs are a triumph of engineering against common sense?

It's not so much engineering vs common sense as it is technology for racing being applied (or misapplied, as the case may be) to everyday riding. Derailleur gears, properly tuned, are more efficient than planetary gears—especially when you're comparing to the Rohloff, which uses multiple stages of planetary gears. That efficiency is critical when you're racing. Not so much when you're commuting, but everyday bikes are influenced by racing bikes in all sorts of ways.
posted by adamrice at 1:12 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


MAMIL

So that's what I am. (Although my bike isn't expensive.)


In the 90's I believe that would have been "Fred", if you hung out with people who used those sort of terms.
posted by bongo_x at 1:28 PM on June 8, 2018


Derailleurs and the Rohloff are about neck and neck in terms of efficiency, and given the lower maintenance of the Rohloff combined with a carbon belt especially, it may edge out derailleurs for most riders (dirty chains eating up watts as they do). Really, the biggest difference isn't drivetrain efficiency but component weight and of course cost. Bear in mind too that the shifting is so quick that you don't have to stop pedalling for more than a split second which is indescribably handy on an uphill.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:54 PM on June 8, 2018


I am the only one convinced that derailleurs are a triumph of engineering against common sense?

There is something to be said for bulletproof drivetrains. I had a ride with no tools once where the chain dragged the front derailleur a quarter turn around the seat tube and almost pulled it in half. I literally had to kick it better (which worked surprisingly). I can't afford a Rohloff or Pinion right now though.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:57 PM on June 8, 2018


For my birthday, my gentleman caller had my mid-sixties Puch tuned up, and the modern bike mechanics all sniffed at the licensed Sturmey-Archer AW-3 copy (with a really beautiful wavy chrome shell) and said that those gears were, in fact, all wrong. When he described this critique to me as he presented my well-worn Puch to me, I had to laugh, point out that I was, as it happens, shifting merrily while motionless in the driveway, and remember thousands of miles of rachetta-rachetta-rachetta, shed chains, sudden unexpected major shifts, and getting both my Dr. Who scarf and my nun's habit regularly caught in the goddamn derailers.

My Gitane Hosteler has a pretty pretty derailer, though. Just wouldn't want it actually connecting my feet to my wheels.
posted by sonascope at 4:59 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


riding eTap for a year and a half

OMF-hitech-G, a wireless derailleur is an actual thing, really assumed the first comment was some subtle tech joke! And it syncs with pretty strong encryption, guess to prevent hacking in the peloton.

Now I want one but it'll have to wait, been struggling replacing an old suntour that literally exploded one day. Down to re-tapping the hanger but don't have a tap set so we'll see.
posted by sammyo at 5:01 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


getting both my Dr. Who scarf and my nun's habit regularly caught in the goddamn derailers.


/thread
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:41 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


I hope to see a practical and robust wide range CVT on a belt driven bike before I am too old to ride.

Manual is fine, but I've had actual dreams of riding a bike with an electronic CVT with constant power, constant cadence, and predictive modes. Like it will smoothly reduce gear ratio when slowing down to a stop.

Does this exist already?


On the other side of the spectrum my sister has a 90+ year old two speed bike, flat and uphill. To change gears one reaches for a long rod with a hook at the end attached to the seat stay, hooks the chain, and lifts it to the right gear. It is her market bike and gets used weekly.
posted by Dr. Curare at 7:49 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


On the other side of the spectrum my sister has a 90+ year old two speed bike, flat and uphill. To change gears one reaches for a long rod with a hook at the end attached to the seat stay, hooks the chain, and lifts it to the right gear. It is her market bike and gets used weekly.

I am amazed that the fixie craze didn't transition into something like this. I want one now.
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:52 PM on June 8, 2018


When I was in college, I bought a 1968 Raleigh Competition that had Huret Jubilee derailleurs. Super-minimal, super-light, super-easy action. I wouldn't want to go back to friction shifters, but those were great.

Those down-tube Jubilee shifters still adorn the custom bike I built in 1978, along with that sexy sexy front derailleur. I needed more than 24 teeth in the back, though, so I had to replace the rear... I still pull it out of its box once in a while, just to appreciate its lines. Thinking about mounting it for display someday...

My wife just doesn't understand.
posted by skippyhacker at 8:27 PM on June 8, 2018


CVT exists. Look up the NuVinci hub.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:46 PM on June 8, 2018


I love how someone posted an article about derailleurs with an admonition not to derail this thread, so now we're talking about CVTs.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 12:34 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]


Burhanistan, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Shimano fan and thought SRAM was crap with all of their recalls and other issues but damn if they didn’t nail eTap. With that said, if Shimano goes wireless I’d likely switch back if it’s as good as eTap. The Shimano DI2 shifting is a little crisper but no cables or wires is a thing of beauty. Now, if I only had the money to send my Moots frame back to do internal brake cable routing....
posted by photoslob at 9:19 AM on June 9, 2018


→ I am the only one convinced that derailleurs are a triumph of engineering against common sense?

Yes. Like most racing things, they value lightness over anything else. My bike gets a quarterly tyre pressure top-up and I suppose I should have the hub brakes and gears looked at since they've had about five years riding without a squeak. I used to ride insane recumbents which needed fighter-plane levels of maintenance to run time. I prefer riding 'em to fixing 'em, so I have the Batavus.

→ OMF-hitech-G, a wireless derailleur is an actual thing

Mavic would like to show you the wireless, encrypted Mektronic of 1999.

The article needed moar Huret Duopar.
posted by scruss at 1:26 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]


« Older Magic Advice in D&D 5E for Players and DMs   |   Faux festival Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments