Since it’s been hot I have been waking up early, and this morning I noticed this set for $30 on CL which had been posted at 6 am. Luckily the guy was driving through my town and meet me a few minutes from my house this evening. Apparently he has close to 3,000 bikes and is trying to get rid of stuff. Since I picked up my 85 Schwinn Voyageur with a non original rear derailleur, I’ve been reading up on older long cage stuff that would fit my bike. I picked up a V-GT Luxe for $10 and that should be more than I need, but I felt it would have been foolish of me to pass this set up. It is quite pretty.

That was a steal! Looks like it has Bullseye pulleys too...double steal!

Uh-huh

.
...if you get a chance, you should try to get this and read it.

I'm trying to picture the reasoning that starts with having 3000 bikes and ends with selling a couple of derailleurs for $30. I wish I could say I can't imagine it, but it sounds a bit too much like something I'd do. "Well, I guess I don't need these...."

He said he posted the derailleur sets, I bought a Shimano XT set too, from bent frames he was scraping. I don’t know the guy from atom, but he definitely knew his 80’s/90’s stuff. He made it sound like he just wanted to get rid of stuff. If I can buy 5 bikes in two weeks, sell two that pay for all of them and have three “free” bikes, I can see how someone could accumulate tons of bikes if the price is cheap over a few decades.

Wow, 3000 bikes !!??
He better start selling.. even if the average is only like 200 each that's a ton of money $$

I think the first generation Cyclone is one of the best looking rear derailleurs , as well as the Campy Nuovo Record. The Cyclone GT is great because it has a better touring range and it shifts as good as anything that was available , better than most. I just scored a blackened one that will go on my touring bike.

I'm using a Cyclone Mk2 GT RD because if you file down the adjuster stop it will shift 8 gears
Polished off the horrible black lettring though, and installed a Mk1 FD for the looks.

For me, the VX is perhaps most visually appealing. I have numerous GTs and also the wonderful mid cage length S model.




I like the hidden limit screws that let the beauty of that embossed parallelogram outer arm stand proud. I even like the simple beauty of the form follows function cable routing and the elegantly cast cable routing trough in the outer knuckle. It doesn’t hurt also that these are light, smooth shifting, highly reliable, and inexpensive.

​​​​​​Long or short cage those are a triumph at their price point and really with the old bikes I ride, all I need.

There's a guy in Pittsburgh who started a museum (Bicycle Heaven) with a story a lot like that. He's got dozens, if not hundreds, of Schwinn Stingrays, which is how it started. Then he branched out into more interesting things like five or six Bowden Spacelanders, an 1890's boneshaker, and the actual Pee Wee Herman bike.

I'll pass on the Snow Cones Momma... Gimmi Gimmi Please...

Timely thread! I just picked up a Pro Miyata frame from a forumite. MId-'80s race bike. A thoroughbred. And parts box special. I believe this was an all Superbe bike and my stock of working Superbe is weak. So it's got super short Cyclone calipers (with the pads pushed all the way up. 25c fits but getting the rear wheel in is hard! 24c is biggest feasible in back.

Crankset - triple 175 52-42-30 Campy in good shape! A newer like new Cyclone FD. Cyclone GT in very good shape. (I'm a sucker. See those Cyclones hiding out in display cases with like the old prices and I'm in any time. Won't need it in this lifetime? With luck, I'll get a second chance.)

Threw that stuff on. And like I always remembered about that Cyclone derailleur stuff - it works and is so easy to work! Adjusted the chain to the 24t (so I thought) FW with a little spare in the big-big. Small-small worked like a charm. Rode it. Everything perfect - except that's not 24! (12-21; what I used to race 4 1/2 decades ago with one more cog in each direction.) This morning I threw a SunRace 13-24 on. Works beautifully (but the 26 on the Sachs I wanted to use is a complete big-big no-go.)

Shifting yesterday on the 21 out "in the field" was race-day superbe. In all combos. I'm guessing the 24 will be virtually the same. (Used to race the 19, using a 23 I threw together for Smuggler's Notch. The small cage Cyclone didn't care.

SunTour Cyclones - game changers, Yes, SunTour already had the geometry dialed with the V-GT Lux but the racing scene could not ignore the Cyclone RD. Much better shifting and considerably lighter than any other manufacturer out there. No bad habits. Nothing quirky. Shifting on the biggest and smallest chainrings - identical. Didn't hurt that it looked light, clean and elegant. (Oh, and after crashes, go find a crashed Cyclone with the other half trashed. Almost always, crash damage was either cage or parallelogram, not both. Easy to take apart and swap.) And still, those Cyclone are a joy to ride! (Well, as long as you can live without that index thing.)

2nd lightest, and IMO 2nd prettiest derailleur of all time. Huret Jubilee is lightest and prettiest in my book, but a Cyclone will outshift it 6 days a week and twice on Sunday.

GT Version on my Centurion Pro Tour

I'll join the club, 1st. gen. Campag Rally

Never ridden one but, aesthetically, that would head my list. Huret Jubilee a close second.

Actually the same generation Superbe Pro was only 169,5 gram, so the Cyclone was not the second lightest.

Campy,s Super Record RD is just the C&V bike world's typical ultimate RD spec and aesthetics. And I agree......

Campagnolo Super Record RD with Ti pivot bolts on my 83 Davidson Signature.

But other very different C&V RDs look just as good or better to me, like the Mavic SSC.
It's a very beautiful example of modern industrial art design.

Mavic 851 SSC RD on my 86 Alan Record Carbonio.

I often wonder what Triplex were thinking when they made this ? (maybe they werent? )


No pretty ,just slightly looney !

Wish there was something like this for EVERY bikepart!

https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/home.html

Here is my addition.....I think the Shimano 600 Arabesque is a beauty (currently running on my Raleigh International),
the Campy Nuovo Record is also combining beauty and function (currently resting with the rest of the groupset in my living room cabinet)

Beauty contest....Arabesque vs. Campy

arabesque is style

plays and looks well with this stuff

Suntour Cyclone Mk2 GT with the script polished off and some (old) road rash.
And new BBB Rollerboys jockey wheels.

Since nobody has yet mentioned it, I will. Disraeli Gears. Talk about a rabbit hole...

I think the Sanko Procyon is right up there with the best. Here's a PV-1.



If you're into the CNC era, Paul derailleurs are hard to beat. How about the Powerglide 'Rasta'?