Ha!

Did you see my awesome thread about using too low of a gear for my chain?

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...ack-chain.html


Seeing as how it worked with the Stronglight crankset, and I realized that 24t granny was REALLY small- I put a 30 on and it worked- I've got a 28 coming.

There was a nice young man here who used to post videos of his derailleurs going through the gears. I think it's interesting to see how different derailleurs handle the extremes- and what different derailleurs see as "extreme."

There's also my 3-Pulley adventure- which is actually what spawned the use of the Mountech II.

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...y-project.html



Again- these derailleurs are interesting in that they were evolutions of what Suntour had been innovating, responding to ATB and MTB needs for lower gears and ground clearance- but yet keeping the option of higher "road" gears available. However, when SIS came- all that mattered was clicky shifting. If there was a reliable indexing shifting system, they could have branched out from there- but Shimano seemed to do really well with the Deore derivatives.

With the 3 pulley thing- I did it more or less as a joke- and I was struck by how well it worked. Because I only use two bikes with friction shifting right now- this bike was perfect for it. Not only is the 1985 Trek 720 a Flagship level bike with the nicest, purpose driven frame Trek came up with- it also had among the very finest in components available- regardless of manufacturer. I've "upgraded" things on the bike to things that I felt were nicer or more handy or looked cooler- to include a circa 1993 Suntour XC Pro RD- but that XC 3 Pulley performed as well as the XC Pro, and it was much more interesting. It's made the decision of which derailleur to use much more difficult.

Using the Mountech II (I don't know if it actually was considered the Mountech II- it's still just "Mountech" on the derailleur) I'm struck by how nicely it works. If you're a dork like me, you know of the colossal failure of the Mountech- you know of the impending cloud of doom that will hover over you and cause your demise... Again, I've had this Mountech sitting in a bin, there have been a few people I was going to gift it to- to replace first gen Mountechs. I've had it and never noticed the huge pulley. As cutesy as it would be to use these dead-end curiosities- they also work REALLY well. I think the 3 pulley would be more robust than the Mountech- three pivots and and a huge, unsupported cage does carry a possibility for catastrophe with it.

I'd like to figure out what's going on with the LeTech- I want that computer font of the future to be featured on my bike!