Davis Jensen wrote:
> I was looking at the picture of the Suntour "Spirt" front derailleur,
> and it brought back memories of a Suntour I tried on my PX10 in 73ish
> when the Simplex broke. It was a nice enough piece, but the operation
> was backwards, using the spring to push the chain up onto the large
> ring. Or should I say try to push the chain up, as it would fail to
> shift if any more than a trivial amount of force were being applied to
> the pedals. Downshifted right smartly though! Also gave the levers an
> operational symmetry that appealed to me; forward for fast, rearward for
> slow. Did any other manufacturers use this method, and did Suntour
> abandon it before the end of their days?
The "Spirt" and the "Compe V" (and a little later, the "SL") worked this way, and indeed, the cages were readily interchangeable between them. Starting with the Cyclone they went to "regular" mechanisms, but the reverse mechanism reappeared briefly in the 80's on some mountain bike FDs.
The Compe V's in particular were favored on tandems for their sturdy cages and reliable shifting, even with long cable runs.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA