It's the extremes that usually catch my attention, especially around the forums. Something that is either loved, or something that is fiercely hated. I've tried, and liked some of the hated items. I liked Shimano Positron II, an aluminum framed Trek and did not hate the Shimano Eagle.

That brings me to the Simplex prestige. It's about as infamous as it gets around here. I traded jim muller for a nice prestige, now I get to try one. Next, maybe i'll try an Alvit?

I mounted it to my Raleigh Gran Sport for a couple of reasons. It doesn't get ridden very often, so I won't worry about the fragile plastic. It also probably could have been originally sold with this derailleur, it looks "right" to me. I paired it with a much hated 5 speed A.T.O.M. freewheel, I definitely need a spacer for it.

Our first voyage is tonight.


DSC01956 by mkeller234, on Flickr


DSC01957 by mkeller234, on Flickr

Look how far to the left the freewheel sits. I definitely need to go to the LBS for some spacers.


DSC01962 by mkeller234, on Flickr

A Prestige (in good condition) is a good derailleur - but the pulleys tend to break a lot.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised - though I can't vouch for the ATOM FW. ( I generally replace FWs with Sturmey/Sunrace items whether the need it or not.)

Oh, i've used the ATOM freewheel a few times before. It actually does stink.

Can anyone tell me the max capacity for the simplex prestige (spare me from google)

It's rated to a max 28T cog.

No, but that's a great looking Raleigh.

Hmm, that derailleur looks familiar.

Do let us know what you think. It looks great on that bike!

The plastic Simplex FD is a million times worse than the rear.

Whoops! I said I traded Due Route, but I meant jimmuller.... where is my mind!

Yeah, I was't brave (dumb?) enough to try that out. The Suntour Compe V is there to stay.

I have Simplex Prestige on a '72 Raleigh SuperCourse. It has been a good set of deraileurs, very low mileage for many years, and ridden conservatively. I sometimes swap out rear wheels and this RD limits freewheel size more than my other bikes. I suppose this is more of an observation than a complaint. That said, I have had a replacement set of Suntour ARs on standby.

I'll send you mine. I'm not using it anymore.

Simplex lover here. As far as replacement pulleys, just swap out from an old POS SunTour.

I'm also a fan of the Huret Alvit. Just put one on my Jeunet, with an Atom freewheel.

I've used one successfully with a Suntour 13-30, handled the 30T cog fine, if a bit noisily.

1st of; Loverly Raleigh, the powder blue is exquisite! 2nd. The Simplex gear system is much maligned, I have been riding a UE-8 with this set up for a couple of years...I like the look and the functionality...as far as durability, I understand the issues, just has not happened to me yet? As a wise man told me once said; Ride More, Worry Less....IMO

I'm with you on beefing up your Prestige with Suntour pulleys.
I am not a fan of Huret's Allvit though. I think the Allvit (along with that horrible Plastic FRONT derailleur) is what caused people to write-off their other later efforts.

IMO, the Huret Challenger/Success is the equivalent of anything that Suntour ever put out. (At least that's the way they have performed for me on my bikes.)
The Duopar has its fans too.

mkeller234, first off that Raleigh is one pretty bike. The Bluemels fenders are such a perfect match.

About the Prestige RD. I've not had any problems with those, so I think you'll be OK with it and for the largest cog, I can attest that my 1967 Carlton had a 32t large cog on the rear. I only rode it once in that configuration and I can't remember how well it worked or shifted onto that size cog. I have not have good experiences with the Prestige FD as they always seem to break. Two of three Prestige FDs have broke on me. That's not a good sign.

The problem was not so much the rear derailleur but Prestige system as a whole. The shifters and front derailleurs were far weaker links than the rear derailleur. The rear derailleur itself was very good, out-of-the-box, and the issues are primarily age related, typically premature wear of the pivots and breakage of the pulleys and sometimes the body itself, though the latter is far more common with the front derailleur. By employing a parallelogram front derailleur and metal bodied shift levers, you've eliminated the weak links that contribute to the perrformance issues. The one thing that will further improve shifting performance is the use of a HyperGlide compatible freewheel and chain. Also, teflon lined, compressionless cable housing wil help, if you're not already using it.

The '71 UO8 came with that derailer, and didn't break. It really did feel "rubbery" to shift, but it shifted well. I wasn't racing or anything.
40 years later, golly, were they supposed to last that long?

The original RD was called a Maxi, according to the catalog. I have no idea how it differs from the Prestige. In fact, I've never heard of it before.

The rubbery feel was due primarily to the flex in the shift levers themselves. Switching to stiffer, metal bodied levers will almost totally eliminate it.

The Maxi was the long cage, wide range version of the Prestige.

Looks good!

The frustrating thing is finding Simplex front deraileurs that are not cracked.

I have a few bikes with Huret Allvit gear, I can generally make it work well enough for a casual bike.

After you try the Allvit you might try a Campag Valentino set, not as horrid as their reputation would lead you to believe, and no plastic!

I'm now wondering if some of the original sloppy shifting feel was due more to the Atom FW. Also when I switched from stem shifters to DT shifters the shifting improved. FWIW I'm still using those replacement levers which were Simplex plastic like the originals.

Shifting should definitely improve by going from stem shifters to down tube shifters. Simply removing 18" of cable housing will improve things, especially if it was the old spiral wrap housing, which had compression issues.

Check the pivots on the rear derailleur, if ot is a Delrin Simplex. They were suspectible to wear and contributing to sloppy, inconsistent shifting.

I'm not sure as the Atom freewheel was much of a contributor, as least in comparison to other freewheels of the period. However, a modern freewheel with profiled and ramped teeth, and a compatible chain, will make a sunstantial difference. It's inexpensive too, probably cheaper than a NOS Atom freewheel. The only complicator is if you're restricted by French threads but many of the imported French bicycles used English freewheels.