re: [CR]Cyclo Benelux Mark 7 Five Speed?

(Example: Racing:Jean Robic)

From: "Peter Brueggeman" <pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: re: [CR]Cyclo Benelux Mark 7 Five Speed?
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:20:07 -0800
reply-type=original

I have a Benelux Mark 7 engraved for five speed plus a Mark 8 Tourist engraved for 5 speed. My Mark 7 does not cover five cogs horizontally (whether Suntour, Cyclo or Regina), ..... not even close. The Mark 8 Tourist, while marked for five speeds, isn't reliable in doing so, operating at the very maximum of its horizontal limits, requiring regular twiddling to range across five cogs. Finally I gave up,and use it on four cog freewheel. You may find that a four speed freewheel gives best results, even if the Benelux Mark 7 derailleur is marked for five speed. My sample size is small so your mileage may vary.

Peter Brueggeman San Diego California USA http://www.peterbrueggeman.com/cr/

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:59:51 -0500 From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net> To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR]Cyclo Benelux Mark 7 Five Speed?

Now that I find myself the purchaser of a 1957 Raleigh RRA Moderne in the UK, I am 1) eager to buy stock in ParcelForce/Royal Mail whose profit model makes Exxon look like a charity and 2) in need of a Cyclo-Benelux Mark 7 derailleur.

Now a question: was this really offered as a FIVE-SPEED? I ask because a thread early this summer seemed to establish that Cyclo only made four speeds. But all of the Raleigh literature for the RRA Moderne clearly states it's a "Benelux 5-SPEED, Mark 7 with a 14-16-18-20-22 freewheel. " Yet when the Mark 7 is listed for the Lenton Grand Prix c. 1960 it's listed as 4-speed.

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA