Some Simplex TdF derailleurs were in fact marked "Tour de France", but most weren't.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA
2009/3/10 John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net>:
> At 10:33 PM 10/03/2009 -0400, Tim Fricker wrote:
>>Hey gang!
>>
>>Anyone care to peek at my blog:
>>
>>http://spokesofawheel.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-bicycling-artifact.htm
l
>>
>>And chime in on what model this old Simplex derailleur is? And poke a
round
>>the blog while you're there. You might enjoy.
>
> That would be a Simplex Tour de France, fairly late vintage. They were
> popular in the early 1950s, but I don't recall them actually being
> inscribed "Tour de France". I have a couple of older ones without the bla
ck
> and gold decoration. One says just "Simplex" on the arm and the other
> "Simplex JUY BIISGDG" or something like that.
>
> John Betmanis
> Woodstock, Ontario
> Canada