This is kind of interesting. No, not C&V, but certainly C&V inspired/related.

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoo...eur?scope=anon

Makes you wonder why manufacturers design derailleurs to resort to cross chaining direct from setup. The front derailleur is normally always built to be low normal from the get go.

Grant Petersen got the idea from Shimano, who had Rapid Rise derailleurs in their component lineup for a few years.

Appears to be vaporware so far, https://www.rivbike.com/products/der...xulQeT_daB3Yg; otherwise, the C&V folks might just buy some of the stock on this.

And interestingly Rivendell lists their derailleurs as derailers . . .

While I've always been a manual bike ride kinda person, since this RD was announced years ago I was disappointed as it's reverse rise. My first thought was WTF, I get the darth of silver manual shifting RD's, but then GP designs one in reverse-rise only. ((Deflating balloon sound inserted here)). I've never had cause to use a RR, and I certainly wouldn't go about ridding myself of the many regular RD's I already have. I can count on zero fingers the times I've ever thought, "I wish the RD worked the other way". I get they have the luxury of doing this as their business is good enough to support their eccentricities. While I have Bombadil frame of theirs, with "normal" chaistays that take normal/stock 114/116 link chains, I'm lost as a customer in the direction the company has gone in most ways. It's a matter of tastes of course, and no one has a choice in that. So it goes !

Both Suntour and Shimano sold high-normal front derailleurs at one time or another in the past, based on the idea that (IIRC) being able to force the chain from a bigger ring to a smaller can be crucial while climbing.

Edit: about "cross-chaining from setup": what's the alternative?

I can appreciate the logic behind low-normal for an RD, especially if one is using bar-end shifters. I've bumped the shifter with my knee on a steep climb, and that ain't no fun (have also had a cable slip, or a shifter loosen up, and I'd much rather have it inadvertently go into a lower gear than a higher one..). And it makes sense (to me, at least) that with ba-ends in low/climbing gears the levers would be pointing down and more out-of-the-way.

Good article.
If the derailleur comes to market, it gives us friction shifters another option.
That can only be a positive.
Maybe old technology updated can reside with new tech.
And in silver. Cheers to GP.

If you want one and don't feel like waiting for Rivendell's knockoff version to arrive, buy the original. There are several Shimano Rapid Rise derailleurs available on eBay currently, including a few in silver.

I have always loved the way Weiss/bikesnob writes.

It’s manufactured by Microshift and their design DNA is evident, it resembles their R10. I’m curious but not too curious. I suspect my decades of high normal would make it seem odd, but the description of its smooth shifting is appealing.

When I set up my son’s Super Course I used a high normal front. He never had a derailleur setup and I thought it would be simpler for him.

Not just bar-end levers, but the inside-the-bar thumbshifter mounting that Riv likes to do is made easier with a low-normal RD... you don't have to swap the levers to get them to move the same, (and intuitively correct,) way.

Which is, I think, why GP likes 'em so much that he went on a derailleur-making mission. One hopes that it this idea works out better than his last "innovation"... the Speedblend tire. (That one almost destroyed the company.)

Fortunately, Will seems to be a much better runner-of-businesses than Grant seemed to be. (But how the hell would I know, right?)

Of their current bikes, My two favorites are the Clem Smith, Jr. for a great-looking, smartly-designed, modern-day Raleigh, and the Platypus, because it's beautiful, rides fantastic, and has the coolest head badge of all time. Plus, platypuses are cool critters... cute little poisonous **** ducks.

--Shannon

When I read Weiss's article I immediately wanted to try one out . . . . But then remembered I have this stash of DuoPars and Nuovo Records waiting for a use. So I suspect I'll be sitting on my hands.

I'm intrigued. But not enough to spend $150. Being a tinkerer, I may be tempted to go for an old Shimano Rapid Rise rear derailleur. I do have one bike with bar-end shifters.

By the way, thanks for pointing out the Shimano Rapid Rise systems. It was a development that I was unaware of.

I had an XTR rapid rise rear and reverse-pull front on a Kona Explosif that I sold earlier this summer. Originally came with grip shifter, which I'm not used to, so nothing seemed counterintuitive. I switched to thumbies, which took a little getting used to, but overall I really liked how they performed. Doesn't mean I'd want a brand-new Riv one, however.

I had a Shimano Rapid Rise RD on one of my Cannondale ST’s maybe…15 years ago? Aside from the opposite shift lever direction, I found neither improvement nor disadvantage to performance. That now sits on one of Mrs. Doc’s bikes with grip shifters and still works just fine.

I do like the idea of defaulting to the lowest gear when you break a shift cable or shifter. Both of which I've done. While mountain biking. Far away from the truck. A 24x12 is a 53.1 inch gear on a 26x21... it'll get you home, but you will not enjoy it. (At least, I didn't. But then, every time I build a single speed or fixed gear bike, I think that this time, I'll actually like it. I never do.)

--Shannon

That will be a lot of fun to ride the one bike in the stable with a low-normal rd. Maybe by the end of the ride -- on every ride-- I'll get used to it.

The key is to never shift. You'll adapt quickly!

I have had a few Shimano rapid rise RDs, they worked but as the spring wore or it got dirty it was not real responsive.

Derailleurs, front and rear, are the way they are because the shifts to larger cogs or chainrings generally take more force than dropping to a smaller one. So we pull the lever to the bigger cog or chainring, and let the weak spring drop it the other way.

Index shifting brought lifter cog design that decreases the force necessary to shift to larger cogs, making Rapidrise practical.


But a better question is why, in the age of dedicated index-only brifters and one to three click shift maximums, are we putting problematic springs in derailleurs at all?

Yes, in theory. I had a reverse-action front derailleur (SunTour Compe V). I thought it would be a problem. It never was.

Of course, I would not pair a reverse-action front with a reverse-action rear. Then the opposite-direction problem would be there again.

Well, there was/is the Nivex, that, at least as I understand it, uses two cables, so there isn't a need for the spring for side-to-side (pretty sure there must be a cage-tension spring....

I've got a hi-normal FD on one of my bikes- takes a couple minutes to adjust to it when I ride that bike, but it works as well as anything else I've got.

To have a CompV front derailleur that functioned well as it aged or rusted is a wonder. We serviced lots of them and replaced lots of them with standard front derailleurs back in the late 70's and early 80's. Not a mechanic liked them, myself included. The Rapid Rise XTR was a good looking mech, worked well when new, but as it aged or was ridden hard, they failed to perform well. There is a real good reason mountain bikers rejected the design.
Frankly, a dual cable system that sheds the spring altogether is a much more sensible design solution to consistent shift quality through time and use.

Dual-cable designs were tried in the past, repeatedly, including Shimano's various versions that appeared on some cheap bikes in the '70's. It's a cumbersome and finicky solution to a problem that barely exists.

Derailleurs above the entry level are amazingly durable and require very little maintenance. How much longer and more smoothly do people expect derailleurs to operate?