Originally Posted by
pierce
suntour's design was just a refinement on what campagnolo and others had been doing for at least 10 years earlier.
Anyone who rides a modern bicycle with derailleur gears owes a lot to Suntour.
Derailleur systems have been around for a long time but the present era of modern derailleur gears started in the 50's with Campagnolo's Gran Sport which came of age in 1953 and Suntour perfected it and this rendered other designs as being obsolete.
They killed many of the European makers as their antiquated designs could not compete.
My partner used to race on Bobet gears in the early 50's... this was a chain stay mounted derailleur that ran a 3-4 speed block but was not something average people used on their bikes.
I also have run pull chain derailleurs from the 40's and 50's and these were still used into the early 60's and Huret was famous for taking flat plates of steel and making rather functional derailleurs.