I have one of these in my collection of oddities. If you are tempted to bid, please note that the mechanism relies on a two-lobed cam, combined with the right BB cup, and positioned at the proper angle with a lock-down feature. W/o the cam/bracket (and the tool), it is not going to do its job.
It's job is that the roller cam follower winds up pushing the chainring forward or back relative to the crank arm, thereby changing the effective gear ratio. Sort of a mechanical version of the Shimano BioPace. Maybe I'll set it up for next year's Cirque, as the successor to my Avenir stair-stepper-bike.
Note that this one has 60/44 chainrings. That and the slightly longer cranks are what make the spider look small, like a Stronglight 99. In fact, it measures out as a 144 BCD.
thanks for picking this out, and I'll be curious if it gets a bid. harvey sachs mcLean va ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Kurt Sperry wrote: The Powercam had no connection to Stronglight. It was another of those many engineering and commercial flops that were claimed (and failed) to make pedaling a bicycle more efficient. These were built in Texas by an outfit calling itself Houdaille. There's more online including a page on the CR site.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA
Sean Flores wrote:
>> Came across this:
Apologies if it's not on topic, but it's very curious. Looks like it's
based around a Stronglight 99 crankset. Any ideas on this one. My only
guess is something like Shimano FFS, but built into the crankarm.
Couldn't seem to find any info on this. Not in the market, but I'm
always curious about odd parts.
>>
>> Sean Flores
>> San Francisco, CA