I went with a brass tube to keep things extra classy. Just need to mount this pup on an old Nishiki and give it a whirl.

This is so, so very wrong, on so very many levels.

I totally want one.

Also, the Spirt derailleur is perfect in its wrongness. Also also, the Schraeder valve cap as the top knob / tube cap / don't-cut-your-hand-thingie just, ummm... tops off the whole brilliant wrongness.

If it works, it belongs in the Cave of Bad Ideas.

Chapeau!
--Shannon

This one... no. You'd need to reach down to shift, in between the frame and right leg, while continuing to pedal. That's going to be a pain.

One thing of Herse that looked interesting was their 2-cable rear derailleur, to eliminate the spring. I want that same setup for the front derailleur, as the return spring on mine is way too stiff, beyond my ability to use a gripshift, and even a trigger shifter is great difficulty to upshift unless I use my right thumb straight in line with the push, instead of trying to sweep my left thumb.

But isn't. Really.

One of my favorite pedal designs is now almost 100 years old. The Lyotard M23 "Marcel Berthet" was introduced in 1928 and produced well into the 1980's:



BTW, those brakes were introduced in the 1940's.

Shannon,

I sure appreciate this comment and your noticing the finer details. Such as the “don’t cut my finger valve stem cap.”

The thing works! It could use a *slight* bit of refinement though. There’s no way I’m going to stick my hand down there actually riding this though.

I have to admit, getting the bends correct to avoid contact with spinning things using with this derailleur was a little tricky.

I tried to wedge my phone behind the front MAFAC brake thinking Jan Heine would approve, but that didn’t work.

Kudos to the guy for bringing back some ancient tech for those curious enough to give it a try!

-Ben

Let me know if the link doesn’t work. I’ve never uploaded anything to YouTube and that process sure made me feel old.

The video shows as private, so only you and those you designate (I think) can watch it. How you're supposed to realize this since the video will always play for you, 'cuz it's yours, is more than I can know.

Apparently, "ask some rando on the internet if it works" is an approved troubleshooting technique these days.

--Shannon

I will add, regarding the Herse design: High contact area in sliding friction; I'm aware of other devices designed over a hundred years ago that had the same quality, and over time, newer designs evolving to much smaller contact area via pivot pins, as completely superseding the earlier designs, due to much more consistent and better "feel" and operation.

Should work now. All was a bit easier after downloading the app. Still, any plans I had for an influencer career change here in my early 40’s have been tossed out the window.

This feels like a shark jump. It would have seemed on-point for a beardy Brooklynite's show bike at NAHBS like ten years ago.

Ha! I was still one of those beardy Brooklynites ten years ago.

Naturally, I started rolling around the city on a janky suicide hub fixed gear about 25 years ago when that was the hot thing.

OK so here's a thought: My FD spring is WAY too strong (Microshift 9 speed triple), can't use gripshift, and trigger shifter with difficulty to upshift. Let's say I could remove the spring without destroying it (can't as shaft it's on is riveted at both ends), use a gripshift which contains the cable enough to actually push on it, and secure the housing from being pushed, and secure the housing as close as possible to the FD; Could I use the cable as a push-pull cable (like a Teleflex control) instead of just pulling, so would have very low pull force for upshift, and downshift should be easier as it is derailling the chain off the big ring, easier than pushing the chain onto the big ring; Since I'm only running 2X with that 3X cage (wanted it so wouldn't drag chain on the small/small combo), I don't need super precision for a middle ring on the push, I'll just use the FD low stop and have the cable go as slack as needed. I sure wish I could harmlessly remove the FD spring in order to try this.

Something is wrong with your FD.

Bought it new, force has been massive from day one. Pulled muscle in left hand trying to upshift with gripshift. Checked force with FD off bike, moving linkage by hand, even unhooked the spring to make sure not internal friction, nope, the spring is just way too stiff. Originally had a microshift combo brake levers and trigger shifters, but high force shredded the left after a year. Bought a $5 nice used Shimano Alivio trigger at Recycled and it has been bombproof, I just need to push with my right thumb, straight in line with force.

My goal is to mount a Shimano FD-5800 "long arm" (special pull ratio), more leverage, plus a relatively soft spring, that was for an 11 speed road I think, and use a gripshift going directly from 1 to 3 for an actual 1-2 shift on the 2X crank, trade more displacement for less force. I have the FD, manipulates very easily in my hands, but it won't mount flat to the Litepro FD adapter (40mm seat tube, no one makes a band-clamp FD that big), the (stronger) Shimano double-shear linkage protrudes more forward than the (theoretically weaker) single-shear linkage on the Microshift, but which mounts fine.

Or, if I can somehow swap the spring to a softer one on the Microshift. If I had access to a machine shop, I could destructively remove the old shaft that holds the spring, make a new one with hollow-drilled ends, and re-rivet it back together.

I'm just happy the Alivio shifter works (a couple years now), despite needing to use my right thumb.

Why don't you just get a different derailleur? Used ones are cheap.

I sorted through the large bin of road-mount FDs at Recycled, looking for a lot lower force, the 5800 was a standout. All had that same typical Shimano double shear linkage, understandable as it's a more sound design. I don't know why those mount fine on typical road FD braze-on/bracket, and not on my FD adapter, the interference area might be below a typical bracket where there's just air there, whereas the adapter has metal there which goes down and more vertical (closer to the FD linkage) than the mount area. Maybe I just needed to mount it higher. Or find a convex/concave spacer to move the FD aft just a touch. I'll get it to work. Other than the overly stiff spring (I don't think they need to be that stiff, even for MTB), otherwise the Microshift FD works fine. I even thought of trying to unwind the spring a coil, got the end undone, it only unwound about a half a turn, and then getting it back onto where it hooked, was a real bear just hand-held.

I think the newer style Litepro FD adaptors may have more clearance below the mount, but the vertical mount part attaches with a single bolt underneath, rather than being a solid unit, and others have said it's not as durable as the older design.

Old (mine):


New:



It's why I jump for joy when seeing an FD welded bracket on a folder, and others say, "What're you talkin' about, that's common, this is the 21st century", and I'm like, "Not on my bike", and now with 1X being more prevalent, the welded brackets are disappearing again.

FnHon folding frames typically have an FD bracket. Wish they were available here.

You ever notice that some people have the oddest mechanical problems that no one else does?

Well, most folks don't use a 20" folder 100% of the time, and in hilly seattle (especially that massive hill leading up from the beach in Discovery park, or shorter but way steeper downtown), so don't need a 21 gear inch low. My 2X conversion has been the best thing I ever did for the bike. But I was totally unaware of wide 1X setups at the time. Next time I might go that route, like Ron D has demonstrated. Someone local saw my setup and was envious, he has an expensive (like 2X the price of a Helix) titanium Burke 20 with 1X and less gear range, and still keeps snagging the RD because it's lower than my setup.