Disraeli Gears online derailleur museum

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

I just love bicycles, no matter the drivetrain. Though I now own a Nomad with Rohloff drivetrain, I have spent most of my riding life on derailleur-equipped bicycles, and they remain near and dear to my heart. "Near" is true; all my other current bikes have derailleurs.

There's always been something about the external, exposed nature of the mechanism that has intrigued me, and as a kid it seemed pure magic for a chain to bend sideways at the bidding of a lever and cable, and the chain would actually move to the next gear (or not; some of my early ones were plastic Simplexes whose spring seats would fail if you looked at them sideways or the occasionally working Huret Allvit on my first "10-speed"). I once showed my Deore 21-sp drivetrain to a non-cycling engineer, and he kept muttering, "This shouldn't work..." as he saw it working perfectly in the stand! When I explained that 27- and 30-speed drivetrains were now commonly available, he just kept shaking his head.

At any rate, I still see beauty in the traditional "mech" and it seems I'm not alone. Mike Sweatman in Edinburgh operates the Disraeli Gears website that pays homage to derailleur drivetrains with a vast collection organized by model, brand, country, decade, and theme. Mike's site includes a huge collection of derailleur-related documents including catlogs, instruction leaflets and even includes explorations of the derailleur's place in contemporary music, literature or fashion -- truly an incredible effort.

To see for yourself, go here: http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Home.html Be prepared to spend some time there...a lot of time.

Mike even includes links to other online derailleur museums here: http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Links_-_enthusiasts_sites.html

Seeing all these derailleurs will surely bring back some memories and start you all thinking of your favorites. I'd like to hear about them, and will kick things off by saying my favorite rear mech of all time is the SunTour Cyclone MkII. This derailleur still graces three of my bicycles and wins my vote in the lightness-durability derby. Reliable, accurate, and incredibly light, the long-cage versions have served well and faithfully on my touring bikes for decades. The Cyclone MkII also gets my vote as favorite front derailleur of all time; both are friction-shifted. For indexed shifting, I've found it hard to beat plain old Shimano Deore for reliable durability at a good price and have been happy with that series since 1989.

What's your favorite for friction and/or indexed mechs?

Best,

Dan.

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

Favourite mech of all time is Shimano RD-M750 still got one on my Univega Daily hack its lasted years.  The nicest looking mech I reckon is RD-M950 and the best functioning mech I ever had was the Shimano Airlines one I had, sadly that bike was nicked at a race :-(

[Andybg]

Good find Dan. A very interesting site which could definetly take some investigation.

For me the mid 80's Shimano 105 groupset in all its glory will remain a favorite for me. Compared to the bottom of the range components I had on previous bikes it was like owning a piece of art.

I still have a bike from that era running 105 and to be it still looks modern, crisp and elegant.

[Cambirder]

I thought this was a Eric, Bruce and Ginger thread