My limited experience with the debate going on in this thread:

1st Generation (slanted) Rally; horrible shifting! I spent about 2 hours trying to finesse this RD to have even mediocre shifting on the bike stand, but no luck. I can't imagine how it might work on the road. (I know, lousy picture and of course it can't shift w/o a chain, freewheel, crankset, and cables, but it's the only picture that I have of this pita RD.)


2nd Generation (non-slanted) Rally; ok shifting, with subtle tweaking of shift lever. Often skips a cog and then I need to back shift.


Sachs Huret Eco DuoPar; This basic looking beauty functions flawlessly. It only took about 10 minutes to have it set up and shift spot on perfectly after yanking off the 1st Gen Rally. I don't believe I've made an adjustment after some 1000 miles or so of riding this summer. I don't find it fragile, but I'm not riding Sporty back in the woods, either.