Jerry and all,
Jerry, I knew you would chime in for the Simplex derailleurs, but they seemed to have such a limited penetration of the upper end market that the only experience many riders had with Simplex was on a poorly set-up cheap Peugeot with plastic shifters, the wrong chain length, and an inappropriate chainline due to the limited range of available Stronglight spindles. No wonder everybody preferred indexed shifting when it became available! I have to agree with you that there are virtually no differences in the performance of the mid-range and the upper end Simplex derailleurs. The SLJ's were for the weight weeners of the classic era.
In 1986 I happened to be driving through Olney, Illinois, the headquarters of Simplex of America. I went right to the front office and convinced them to sell me a brand new SLJ 6600 for $48. I still use it on my Vitus, but lordy don't I wish that I bought a hundred of them.
Galen Poole
Jackson, MS
>I don't think this is really weird, except that one doesn't see long cage
>Simplexes as much as Suntour or Huret or even Campy Rally. Like Don, I see
>more of the mid-priced SX-410 or other mid-priced variations in long cage
>than Super LJ. But my experience is that there is no real difference in
>the shifting of the mid-priced Simplexes and the SLJ, only a difference in
>finish, weight and maybe durability.
>
> Since I think the short cage SLJ is the best non-indexed RD ever made, I
> would expect that the long cage version would be very good as well. I
> have a few long cage mid-priced models that I plan to use for various
> projects.
>
> Perhaps one sees fewer long cage Simplexes because the short cage will
> handle a pretty wide gear range. Thanks to its sprung upper pivot, and
> perhaps its cage geometry, a short cage Simplex will handle a 14-28 FW
> with 52-38 chainrings if you get the chain length right. So you only need
> a long cage if you are going to use a wide range triple crankset.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, TX
>
>
>
>
> Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
> Richard,
>
> I am surprised that you do not think much of the huret duopar (either the
> eco steel model or the titanium model.) Frank Berto, who is a hero of
> mine,
> considers this to be the best-shifting derailleur of the early 1980's
> (better than Suntour VGT, although not as light as Suntour Cyclone, which
> are two of his other favorites.)
>
> The super-weird SLJ derailleur on the header page of french components
> is probably the strangest thing i've ever seen from simplex :
>
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
>
> I have never seen it in a catalogue. I have several used SX-410's
> (low-mid end, some with S starbursts like SLJ but not SLJ) with long
> cages, please write to me if you are interested in one ($18).
>
> - Don Gillies
> San Diego, CA