There might be a drawback I'm unaware of, but I've succeeded in mounting a normal style derailer on a threaded Simplex drop out by putting a lock washer under the derailer bolt as it goes into the drop out. As the lock washer tightens, it fixes the derailer in one location. This has been my setup on a PX 10 and a Duopar for a couple of years, and it worked like a charm. Of course you need to have a long enough derailer bolt to accommodate the washer, but as a Simplex dropout seem to be thinner than the Campy DO, I actually had to add a washer to get the spacing right. Of course the existing stop tab on another brand of Derailer might interfere with the fit. But it's easy to try.
Tom Adams, Kansas City
A Simplex dropout that has been tapped but not ground for a stop will take an old Shimano Crane or Titlist just fine. Those derailleurs had a self-contained pivot stop/upper spring assembly that didn't need a specifically placed stop on the derailleur tang of the frame. DF
> After yesterday's morning ride, a friend asked me over to his house to
show
> me a bike he had rescued from the dumpster. When I offered to buy it from
> him, he gave it to me. He's the one that sold me the shop-built Proteus
and
> has a small Roberts he'd like to sell someone, someday. He rides a
> Lightspeed...
>
> It is a pretty beat up Peugeot PX-10 from 1976 or so (from the decals),
with
> the serial number plate under the bottom bracket (1122678) and decomposing
> French Reynolds sticker on the downtube (not the seat tube).
>
> It has some of the original parts on it, like the Brooks Professional
small
> rivit saddle, Simplex steel microadjusting seatpost, black plastic-tipped
> steel Simplex shift levers, Mafac Competition brakes with half-hood
levers,
> Stronglight 93 cranks (52/45) and Competition headset.
>
> The wheels have been replaced with 27" UKAI clincher rims on odd hubs -
maybe
> you guys could help me identify them ? My first guess is Weyless. These
hubs
> are sealed bearing with a black/silver/black ringed sticker around the
> center. They have remarkably bulky black and silver quick-releases with
> stubby curly wire loop levers. All the spokes that weren't replaced with
SS
> spokes are rusted badly. Whoever had it last appears to have broken a lot
of
> 15G straight-gaged drive-side spokes.
>
> Here's my real problem with getting this on the road again - it has
Simplex
> dropouts, at least in the back, and the derailer hanger is threaded but
round
> with no B-tension screw stop at all. Whoever messed with it last put
SunTour
> Cyclone MkII (GT) derailers on the bike, and the rear one doesn't look
like
> it could possibly work, at all.
>
> What rear derailer should I use ? Not the nasty Simplex red-labels, I
hope !
> Can I fit something made up from a cleverly bent plate washer to fake a
> screw-stop ?
>
> How about those odd hubs ?
>
> Has it been firmly established to there were never any French-threaded
> clipless pedals ever produced, even by Look ?
>
> Russ and David, I begin to understand your affinity for the "Lion of
France",
> as it is much better made than my Gitane Tour de France. :-)
>
> Glenn Jordan - Durham, NC (going out to ride with the Gitane to console
it)
> _______________________________________________
>
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