Haven't we seen examples of a couple of the very early derailer systems having an indexed lever? I can't recall which one(s), but I have a picture in my mind of a sort of sprung, toothed slider alongside the shift lever, a system that would be relatively easy to craft at home.
On a related note, I recently got a '79 600 Arabesque derailer to nicely index a standard 6-speed using a 7-speed Accushift lever, much as a pre-'96 Dura-Ace derailer would function. I found this surprising in that every good index derailer is a slant parallelogram, while the early 600 is not. Conveniently, it even came with a barrel adjuster.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA usa
> Out of curiosity, which model. Looking over disraeligears gears, it lists
> shimano positron in 1975 as the first real shot at indexing- with a few of
> the 333 models are early incarnations. As early as 1967, but it's
> attributed to the twist grip system with dual cables. Under this logic,
> Sturmey Archer 3sp and similar would be the first true click/index
> shifters, no?
>
> Sean Flores
>> From: "kevin sayles" <kevinsayles@tiscali.co.uk>
>> Subject: Re: [CR] Suntour and indexing .When ?
>> To: "sean flores" <seaneee175@gmail.com>,
>>
>> I could be wrong here.......but if I remember correctly Sun Tour were the
>> first to have indexing gears...even before Shimano, but they never
>> perfected
>> the system....and didn't patent it!?........so Shimano took off with the
>> idea and got it right.
>>
>> Although the SunTour ratchet gear levers were/are a joy to use.