Hello everyone,
Have been following the teacup tempests here with a detached smile punctuated by occasional grimaces and groans--but always going back to a smile. We occasionally nearly roll the collective Corvair, but usually right ourselves before going over the falls.`The semi-grammatical expression, "it's all good" comes to mind--especially where rear derailleurs are concerned. I try to have at least one of each (of the major designs anyway), it's more fun that way. I love my reliable and unique-looking Alvit ('58 was a good year); I love my Nuovo Record; I am not above a Gran Sport; I'll pull the chain on a Cyclo Benelux; I'll yank the coiled spring of an early Simplex. Heck, I'll even push or pull the opposite direction on a Suntour 'Spirt' front mech. It's all a wonderful encounter with experience. Just glad it's available here and there. I'm making like Candide with the local garden; leaving off the Parsifal / Grail action. "It all shifts". How's that?
The way I look at it, for not all THat much money, I sequentially get to try out all these designs for myself. And mess with all the other variables, too! Even the frustrations are part of the fun. One usually finds the frustration surmountable--or learns to live with the limitations. I think that's a refreshing alternative to seeking the conventional wisdom on what's "top of the line", and laying out the cash to go straight to the head of the class. Not that I'd be above that either! But some people love a "winner" more than all else--and miss the fun of wagering on both Goliath AND David...or SLJ & NR, etc., etc.
I hope that some previous posts succeeded in establishing the continuum between "racing" and "touring"--and racing and touring equipment. Especially this far after the fact--though some of you are still competing, and in competition trim. Sometimes, though, I detect the survival of thirty-year-old cycling prejudices, and it's almost touching and endearing; after all, we all maintain some tilting at windmills somewhere in our lives. However, most of us will need a long-cage rear derailleur on some hill sometime...or someday. Why not embrace it while still in the flatlands? No shame there. There is beauty in the touring machine; plus I suspect there can't be many here with just one bike. And if you have a Rally derailleur, make rally-ade (as yet another old expression goes, sorta). It, too, will get you from one cog to another, and in style.
Tom Ward New York City, where on the 4th of July a British guy handed me a Brown Bess musket and some black powder...a flintlock's just a derailleur of another sort...some say freedom's just another word for no derailleur left to use