According to Daniel Rebour's book "Cycle Competition Cyclotourisme" the triple became popular after 1946 with the cyclotourists. Anquetil used in the Tour de Lombardie an "adapteur TA 5 vis".No mention is made of the cranks but I suppose they were Stronglight 49D.Chainrings used 36-45-52, freewheel 13-14-17-22-28. He mentions that the triple results in a better chainline and avoids the frequent changes of freewheel sprockets in a road race of several days. He explains that theoreticly there are 15 speeeds but in practice only 3 sprocket combinations are available with each chainring. Disadvantage being added weight and wear of the aluminium chainrings.
Rob Vermeer
Aruba
> Peter Jon White wrote:
> >
> > Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
> >
> > > Anyone have definite information on when the Cyclotourist type arms
were introduced?
> > >
> >
> > It is indeed a TA Pro 5 Vis triple crankset. And it's hard to tell but
> > the rear derailleur appears to be a Simplex.
>
>
> >
> .