Rocky Gravol

Don't believe everything you read.

I was running a VGT LUX with a 52/47/36 coupled to a 14-32 freewheel no issues.
also with a 48/42/28 coupled to a 14-34 freewheel Kind of a stretch but it worked.

I think I might have liked it better than my Cyclone.
Maybe just cause it's beefier.

mstateglfr 

Yeah I was misremembering- I was thinking of the VT Luxe I have.
Even still, your numbers are a pleasant surprise since the VGT shows 36t max capacity on disraeligears. I may try it out on my next total rebuild, whenever that may be.

seedsbelize 

The beauty of the VGT Luxe, and some of the others is the open cage design. I love the open cage; would have them on all my friction bikes.

The Golden Boy 

Talk about "unobtainium."

Every once in a while some Euclid parts (brake levers/shifters/brakes) pop up on the local CL. As gloriously cool as they look, the brakes need U-brake/roller cam bosses on the frame and the shifters need to be mounted to the brake levers which are terrifyingly overbuilt. I'd love to see a pic of the Euclid levers next to something like the BL-733. Plus, I don't know if the shifters need to be mated to a Euclid derailleur- like $400 if you can find one.

The Golden Boy 

You may notice that the derailleur cable is frayed. I think this is my 3rd derailleur cable since getting the bike last year. I think I've had every long and middle cage derailleur that I own on this bike. Maybe several times.

Apparently, tightening and removing the cable from pinch bolts over and over again tends to cause them to fray...


I don't know if you noticed, but one of the features of the LeTech is the "sort of quick cage" design. You just loosen the nut (don't take it off) and the front of the cage swings out of the way. I've heard of people having issues with the quick cage- something happens to cause the chain to jump- and then it falls out of the cage- because there's nothing to hold it in. (IIRC @jimmuller had that happen to him) But that is the beauty of that cage design- on the VGT-Luxe and the Cyclone GT along with others. As long as you have cage tension, the chain is held in place.

nlerner

Has the Shimano "Deerhead" RD-M700 been mentioned? It works very well in a friction system, and that logo is cool, imo.

Italuminium

That Le Tech is just so awesome. The future is digital!

jimmuller 

A few quick thoughts here. I second the VTG-Luxe. It is slightly heavier than and not as pretty as a Cyclone but it is nearly bulletproof, a useful property when you're touring 135,298 miles from the nearest bike shop, or even just 10 miles. Yes I did have a chain jump out of a quick-cage once. It was on a Vx-S (the intermediate cage, the GT version is longer still) when the chain shifted off the inside of the small ring. I have no idea what sort of bouncing around allowed it to jump out of the cage too. (The chain got stuck under the rear tire and I skidded to a stop, wearing a flat spot into the chain's side plates. I popped the chain back on and continued riding, then replaced the chain when I got home.) However this episode has not stopped me from using them. They are just too danged convenient.

One thing to check is the inner plate of the cage. IIRC, on both the VGT-Luxe and Vx (or is it the Cyclone-GT?) it protrudes upward above the pulley and possibly hits the adjacent larger cog. I recall seeing that problem once and adjusting the position screw (the B-screw?) to eliminate that interference. A big plate aids in shifting up but could limit the cog size unless the hanger is longish.

FWIW, the Vx appears functionally equivalent to the VGT-Luxe but perhaps not as pretty. The Cyclone (1st-gen at least and I don't recall the MkII) has a nifty feature where the cable housing fits into a moving part of the parallelogram. This allows the angle of the housing to rotate with the parallelogram so that the cable always emerges from the cable at zero angle.

I can't decide whether that deer head logo is supposed to be the front of a motorcycle or Batman with his wings extended.

Edit: I check various RDs. The protruding plate I recall is the outer plate, not the inner. I had trouble on one installation with it hitting the second largest cog on a big-cog FW.

Flog00

Put the Huret back on it.

hillikus

It would be difficult for me to pass up that Le Tech for no reason other than that font! I may even take mediocre shifting with that wicked looking piece of gear.

gioscinelli 

Go DuoPar it looks cleaner "et le courant"!


I'd also consider putting the DuoPar Titanium back on. It's a really nifty looking unit- it's the poster child for ultra smooth shifting - it shifted so smoothly, I seriously wouldn't know that the shift went through until I felt the resistance on the pedals.








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crank_addict

Agree with that yapanese deer head logo. I had the thinking deore meant deer but just looked it up and it means 'beast' or 'wild animal'. In modern English could also mean beloved, costly, precious.

The Golden Boy 

Is the M700 RD a slant parallelogram?

I've read more than a few posts about poor shifting, and it did come out before Suntour's patent expired. I know there were different versions of this unit- but I thought that was all about the upper pulley...