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mountaindave 

Looks like your ND crankarm has ED.

capitancardoza

Hello guys,

look what I managed to get my hands on

It's a Gipiemme branded Simplex SLJ5500 (second half of the 70s), to some "the best gear mech ever made"

I also got the shifters, every piece in near perfect condition!! Can't wait to play with that

Chombi1 

Good snag there!,
You can save quite a bit of money getting the Gipiemme branded derailleurs instead of the Simplex ones.
The 5500 is good when compared with other straight parallelogram RDS like the Campy SR and NR, but it was the 6600, with the offset/dropped upper pivot that had the reputation of being the best shifting French derailleur, ever. It's funny though that the Japanese was able to make even better shifting RDs by just adding a simple slant to the upper pivot so the top jockey wheel tracked closer to the rear cogs as you go up and down the gears.

capitancardoza

Nice piece of knowledge there! I'll write it down my "Cycling Enthusiast Journal"

jimmuller 

Indeed. I don't know those models of Simplex or Gipiemme derailleurs but most of us old-timers know about the slant parallelogram design. Suntour's brilliant engineering came up with it, patented it and put it on sale in 1966. Such a simple idea but it was the biggest improvement in the RD since Campy's parallelogram itself. With the expanding market for large FWs on touring bikes it became the clear performance winner, though not so much better with corncob FWs. Other manufacturers came up with horizontal-parallelogram models that looked similar, and models like the Crane GT or Campy Rally which created vertical movement in the guide pulley by other means. But the slant feature was patented. When Suntour's patent ran out in 1986 every other manufacturer immediately released their own, and every new RD design since then has used it.

noglider 

Branding is so funny. They put the name Gipiemme on the derailleurs but they didn't remove the Simplex logos. Are they kidding anyone?

El Chaba

My all time favorite friction shifting derailleurs. I preferred the 5500 straight parallelogram design to the 6600 design for close ratio freewheels. These derailleurs just danced over the cogs with a minimum of overshift required. One seldom mentioned advantage that they offered over drop and slant parallelogram designs was the ease of wheel changes. the upper pivot spring helped hold the derailleur out of the way with the wheel removed and a wheel could be put into position VERY quickly and easily. This was a big plus in racing. Suntour derailleurs were the worst for this.

CV-6 

If you are so inclined, you can get replacement Simplex markings for them from Greg Softley.

capitancardoza

I think I'm going to stick with those

When my cranks/chainrings are going to wear out too much, maybe I'll get a Gipiemme Crankset

Chombi1 

That happened a lot......
Like rebranded Vitus and ALAN bikes. If you look close enough, you will still find their brand name pantographed on their frames somewhere or even something as simple as an under BB plastic cable guide.
Same thing with Modolo brakesets rebranded and used by Mavic...... I know at least the hoods carried the Modolo name on them.....

capitancardoza

Yesterday I started to install the new group, then I had some little "inconvenient" with the front derailleur and the cable trigger (my frame doesn't have a proper cable guide for the front derailleur), so I had to improvise with my mechanic see the pictures!

By the way, it goes SOOOOOOOO SMOOTH!!!

capitancardoza

There's the full build

rootboy 

Very nice bike. If I may suggest, that fine rear derailleur may work even better if you shorten up that yellow cable housing a bit.

capitancardoza

True! That was my mechanic's work, maybe I'll shorten it myself
Thank you!

El Chaba

The slightly older version of the SLJ front derailleur was designed for use with a cable casing. If you can locate one (they tend to go for a little less money on ebay) you can be free of your cable clamp arrangement.

capitancardoza

I saw them around, but this one Complete Groupset was cheaper than most (almost every) front derailleur only I found

ANyway, it works brilliantly!

bikemig 

I just rebuilt this mid 70s Peugeot PR 10 that I picked up earlier this summer as a frameset. The frame needed a fair amount of work; rustoleum flat white proved a pretty good match for the touch ups. I also sourced an almost entirely french parts build by relying on donor bikes and eBay (the big exceptions are the brooks pro saddle and the campy NR 26.4 seatpost and campy record high flange hubs). Otherwise the bike has a first generation stronglight 99 triple crank (think hill climbing!), simplex derailleurs, mafac brakes (rustine hoods), atom 700 pedals, christophe nylon clips and straps, CTA stem and pivo randonneur handlebars. I was happy to be able to track down this many French parts.

The gearing is a bit odd but the idea and the parts came from a bike that came through my workshop. I sold the frame and kept the parts including a monstrous suntour freewheel. The gearing is a half step with a granny since I want to do some hill climbing with this bike (52/47/32 upfront and a 14/18/22/27/34 freewheel). The shifting pattern may drive me nuts but it gives 15 nicely spaced gears:

juvela

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Definite bonus points for the Mk.I quatre vingt dix-neuf; so much nicer than the Mk.II.

Be those radioactive DCC's it wears? Ah yes, you wrote.

Thanks for posting!

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Tychom

My Rebiai in it's current guise:

Tychom

I need to change the stem, the angle isnt level, and then that'll probably mean a change of bars and some skinnier bar tape too.

El Chaba

Very nice and very elegant. If you have more photos, please share...

Tychom

There's some photos here from it's original build. The only difference being the wheels, which I'm too anal to ride on. Hence the silver ones!

obrentharris 

Wow! V-brake noodle repurposed. Very inventive.
Brent

capitancardoza

And slightly complicated to set up