I often use 52-38 Stronglight double and 14-28 FW with a Simplex short cage rear derailleur . No problem. The spring loaded Simpex upper pivot allowed it to wrap more chain than other RD's of the era. However, if you are actually using a Simplex Prestige rear, it will suffer from the flex of the cheap stamped jockey cage, similar to that of the cheap Campy Valentino of the time. This will be worse if you use the all plastic Prestige shifters. There is a lot of confusion about Simplex RD's, because several different models were marked "Simplex Prestige", including the vastly superior Criterium. The model actually identified as Prestige in the Simplex catalogs had the thin cheap stamped jockey cage. The Criterium, although also mostly plastic and marked "Simplex Prestige",had a thicker forged jockey cage, like the one on Campy NR. In my opionion, the only early 70's RD's that shifted nearly as well as Simplex Criterium were the SunTour slant parallelograms. The Criterium shift levers were solid alloy (with hard plastic hoods) and were again infinitely superior to the all-plastic Prestige. The Criterium stuff was stock on the early 70's PX-10.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, West Texas
John Thompson <JohnThompson@new.rr.com> wrote:
P. Lynn Miller wrote:
> I am working on setting up a wide double with a 6 speed freewheel. Just
> interested in anyone's experience and thoughts. I am using a push-rod
> Simplex front with a Simplex Prestige rear. At least for the moment.
I've used a 45-30 crank with a Simplex SLJ (I think) FD and 13-24 6-spd freewheel with a Huret Ti Success in the back. Works fine here.
--
John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA