I refer to the current discussion and previous comments on British Derailleurs
The question put forward was :"Is it because GB being relatively flat didn't need more than a 4-speed Sturmey-Archer?"
In my opinion not always true as there are some very big hills and long drags in parts of the UK , the touring boys would use SA and the racing club members used fix gear sprockets. I suppose put it in a nutshell it was'nt the fashion to have multiple gearing. Low wages in the UK can also take some of the blame as people could not afford the very expensive imports of the day.
The second question read : "Or since the french and italian systems were developed first they didn't bother to or see commercial viability in developing competing systems"?
Got it in one , yes no doubt this would have been the main factor why our manufacturing giants would not have bothered to design or make something which they would have thought viable. World war two and the years following British manufacturing were very slow in adjusting whilst in Europe the countries that were occupied by Germany seemed to have got their act together more quickly.
Oh well ,Click click or is it crunch crunch ,sort em out!.
Doug Smith
North Dorset
UK