I am trying to restore an early 50's bicycle (built by Parisian constructeur Raymond Valance) to it's original equipment level (for the show at Larz this weekend) and am faced with setting up a "Le Spirax" rear derailleur. It is described in the Dancing Chain on page 150 and is further portrayed in the Data Book on pages 116 (internals) and 134, for those that have access to the books. This derailleur makes a pull chain model, like the Simplex, Huret and Cyclo, look positively normal and obvious to me now.
Does anybody have any experience with this derailleur?
It seems as though you have to wind up the fat spiral spring that, in turn, sends the pulley and cage towards the spokes, or the largest cog of the freewheel, and then some how tighten the cable, which seems to want to wrap around a pulley on the outside edge. The spiral spring seems to be responsible for both chain wrap and transcending the freewheel cogs, via the helical slot in the cage pivot tube. I don't see any pre-load stop screw. I suppose it is possible that I am missing parts too.
This stuff is hard to describe, but I hope some one has dealt with this before and can give me a few pointers. I am going to give it another try tonight and I am running out of time so I want to armed with as much info as possible.
I would also appreciate help in identifying the bar-end shifters, which are unmarked and have pronounced balls on the ends of the levers, as seen in the Data Book on page 121, and the rear hub which, like the Cinelli Bivalent, allows you to remove the wheel while keeping the freewheel attached to the frame. It sort of looks like the one on page 135 of the Data Book.
Thanks,
See you at Larz maybe
Paul Lee
Huntington, New York