Today, if you are equipping a bicycle with a derailleur, you are probably choosing from models offered by three companies: Campagnolo, Shimano and SRAM.
There are a few smaller makers and marketers of gear shifters, but the Big Three comprise the vast majority of today's offerings.
If you've been cycling for as long as I have, you have seen other derailleur brands come and go, and have probably heard of others that met their demise not long before you started cycling.
When I started cycling in earnest, the recently-departed names I would sometimes see included Cyclo and DNB. I'd heard about the otherworldly engineering and quality of Sanko derailleurs but would not see one up close until many years later.
Some derailleurs that were common at the time I became a dedicated cyclist came from Huret and Simplex, two marques that have disappeared into the mists of time. Actually, Huret was acquired by Sachs--which also acquired Maillard, a maker of hubs, freewheels and pedals, and premier chain manufacturer Sedis-- which in turn became part of SRAM.
Less common, but still visible, brands from that time that have disappeared or been absorbed into larger entities include Zeus and Galli (which made those "midnight blue" parts that looked so great on white, silver or chromed bikes!). While they made some fine derailleurs and other parts, they aren't much more than footnotes, except to collectors.
On the other hand, I and other longtime cyclists still lament the demise of SunTour. For about a decade and a half, they were making the most innovative and best-shifting derailleurs available. They also were priced lower than offerings from other companies, which made SunTour derailleurs, by far, the best values available.
Those of us who followed their trajectory believe that their downfall began with their Superbe Tech derailleur. (The Trimec derailleur, which preceded it by a couple of years, wasn't a bad derailleur: It was just in the "why did they bother?" category.) The Superbe Tech was, arguably, a noble effort: It was an attempt to solve a problem that had long bedeviled cyclists who ride in a lot of mud and dirt--and riders in the then-nascent discipline of mountain biking. That problem is that paralellogram derailleurs, which are usually made up of two linkage plates and are thus "open" inside the parallelogram, sometimes clog with mud, dirt or debris.
SunTour tried to solve that problem with a solid parallelogram, with only one linkage plate. The problem is that, in order to make up for the loss of spring-back strength afforded by a spring against a second linkage plate, SunTour put a complicated, finicky mechanism inside the parallelogram--and used larger-than-normal upper pulleys and pivots with springs that weren't adequately shielded from the very elements that SunTour tried to keep out of the Superbe Tech's parallelogram!
Some riders got lucky and rode their Superbe Techs for thousands of miles and several decades. Others--especially mountain bikers and "rough-stuff" tourists--had their mechanisms fail, without warning, after only a few rides or weeks.
After SunTour ended up in the trail dust of history, a Long Islander named John Calindrelle came up with a seemingly-simple solution: the "Grunge Guard". Like its name, it was a simple, if inelegant solution: basically, a rubber boot that covered the derailleur. It was inexpensive and did the job well, at least until the material (neoprene)wore out or an edge got caught in a branch, bramble or derailleur part.
So, Mr. Calindrelle came up with another solution: a derailleur that, technically, differed little from Shimano and SRAM units popular at the time (around the turn of the millenium) and was made like the pricey CNC mechanisms coming from the likes of Paul and other small manufacturers. The difference was that Calindrelle's derailleur--called "Vivo"--had "lips" that allowed for precise fitting of an improved version of the "Grunge Guard."
Apparently, not many of those derailleurs were made. At least, they were made only for a couple of years. During that time, he made one change in the design: Where the first Vivo derailleurs had traditional cable routing (housing looped behind the derailleur body and into a fitment on the underside of the parallelogram), the revised versions took cables that went straight into the parallelogram from above, which eliminated other points that could clog with mud and bind.
Shimano, interestingly, didn't see his rubber-boot design as a serious competitor against their derailleurs. The Japanese behemoth, however, wanted to use that cable-routing system. So, in 2002, Shimano bought Calindrelle's patents. As he later explained, selling his ideas made him far more money than making his derailleurs or boots ever would have.
So...SunTour and Mr. Calindrelle tried to solve the same problem. SunTour's design seemed like a good idea and was elegant. However, it had unanticipated flaws that would lead to the failure of the Superbe Tech and, arguably, SunTour itself. Calindrelle's creation, on the other hand, was inelegant but worked flawlessly--and, ironically, led to the end (if by different means) of his business operation.
How might our derailleurs be different today had SunTour's Superbe Tech design worked--or if it had been more remunerative for John Calindrelle to continue manufacturing his creations?
There are a few smaller makers and marketers of gear shifters, but the Big Three comprise the vast majority of today's offerings.
If you've been cycling for as long as I have, you have seen other derailleur brands come and go, and have probably heard of others that met their demise not long before you started cycling.
When I started cycling in earnest, the recently-departed names I would sometimes see included Cyclo and DNB. I'd heard about the otherworldly engineering and quality of Sanko derailleurs but would not see one up close until many years later.
Some derailleurs that were common at the time I became a dedicated cyclist came from Huret and Simplex, two marques that have disappeared into the mists of time. Actually, Huret was acquired by Sachs--which also acquired Maillard, a maker of hubs, freewheels and pedals, and premier chain manufacturer Sedis-- which in turn became part of SRAM.
Less common, but still visible, brands from that time that have disappeared or been absorbed into larger entities include Zeus and Galli (which made those "midnight blue" parts that looked so great on white, silver or chromed bikes!). While they made some fine derailleurs and other parts, they aren't much more than footnotes, except to collectors.
On the other hand, I and other longtime cyclists still lament the demise of SunTour. For about a decade and a half, they were making the most innovative and best-shifting derailleurs available. They also were priced lower than offerings from other companies, which made SunTour derailleurs, by far, the best values available.
Those of us who followed their trajectory believe that their downfall began with their Superbe Tech derailleur. (The Trimec derailleur, which preceded it by a couple of years, wasn't a bad derailleur: It was just in the "why did they bother?" category.) The Superbe Tech was, arguably, a noble effort: It was an attempt to solve a problem that had long bedeviled cyclists who ride in a lot of mud and dirt--and riders in the then-nascent discipline of mountain biking. That problem is that paralellogram derailleurs, which are usually made up of two linkage plates and are thus "open" inside the parallelogram, sometimes clog with mud, dirt or debris.
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| Try to put it back together! |
SunTour tried to solve that problem with a solid parallelogram, with only one linkage plate. The problem is that, in order to make up for the loss of spring-back strength afforded by a spring against a second linkage plate, SunTour put a complicated, finicky mechanism inside the parallelogram--and used larger-than-normal upper pulleys and pivots with springs that weren't adequately shielded from the very elements that SunTour tried to keep out of the Superbe Tech's parallelogram!
Some riders got lucky and rode their Superbe Techs for thousands of miles and several decades. Others--especially mountain bikers and "rough-stuff" tourists--had their mechanisms fail, without warning, after only a few rides or weeks.
After SunTour ended up in the trail dust of history, a Long Islander named John Calindrelle came up with a seemingly-simple solution: the "Grunge Guard". Like its name, it was a simple, if inelegant solution: basically, a rubber boot that covered the derailleur. It was inexpensive and did the job well, at least until the material (neoprene)wore out or an edge got caught in a branch, bramble or derailleur part.
So, Mr. Calindrelle came up with another solution: a derailleur that, technically, differed little from Shimano and SRAM units popular at the time (around the turn of the millenium) and was made like the pricey CNC mechanisms coming from the likes of Paul and other small manufacturers. The difference was that Calindrelle's derailleur--called "Vivo"--had "lips" that allowed for precise fitting of an improved version of the "Grunge Guard."
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| Vivo rear derailleur |
Apparently, not many of those derailleurs were made. At least, they were made only for a couple of years. During that time, he made one change in the design: Where the first Vivo derailleurs had traditional cable routing (housing looped behind the derailleur body and into a fitment on the underside of the parallelogram), the revised versions took cables that went straight into the parallelogram from above, which eliminated other points that could clog with mud and bind.
 |
| Drawing in patent application for new improved version (V2) of Vivo derailleur |
Shimano, interestingly, didn't see his rubber-boot design as a serious competitor against their derailleurs. The Japanese behemoth, however, wanted to use that cable-routing system. So, in 2002, Shimano bought Calindrelle's patents. As he later explained, selling his ideas made him far more money than making his derailleurs or boots ever would have.
So...SunTour and Mr. Calindrelle tried to solve the same problem. SunTour's design seemed like a good idea and was elegant. However, it had unanticipated flaws that would lead to the failure of the Superbe Tech and, arguably, SunTour itself. Calindrelle's creation, on the other hand, was inelegant but worked flawlessly--and, ironically, led to the end (if by different means) of his business operation.
How might our derailleurs be different today had SunTour's Superbe Tech design worked--or if it had been more remunerative for John Calindrelle to continue manufacturing his creations?
