Winter is project time.  Earlier this week, we had a blizzard going on here in Iowa City.  I took the opportunity to finish working on one of the three winter bike projects I’ve got going on. 

I’m in the process of finishing up a Peugeot NSL-40.  The “NS” stands for Nouveau Style and the “L” signifies Luxury.   It’s a five speed, and this frame style also came as a single speed folder,.  The wheels were very rough and, unfortunately, an obsolete size 550A (490 mm ISO/BSD).  Thankfully, it was an easy fix by  substituting small MTB rims (24” or 507 mm ISO).   It also has internal cabling and dynamo wiring with    Franco-rific fender-mount lights. 

This was a pretty straightforward clean and tune project.  However, in addition to the wheels I did swap out a couple of components.  For instance, I replaced the cottered crank with a 3-pin alloy Stronglight TS.   Next, I changed the tattered Simplex Prestige with another very clean white label Prestige from my French derailleur box.  What’s more, I had already done a preemptive Suntour pulley wheel transplant on this derailleur.   There were several other very nice Simplexes in the box, but I chose to keep my powder dry a least until I see how this thing performs. 

The Simplex Prestige transmission system is much maligned.  I will concede the integrity is horrible.  But the rear derailleur actually performs well before the pieces start cracking and crumbling.  Simplex rear derailleurs had the upper pivot return spring on everything from the Prestige to the SLJ models.  This feature gave them superior shifting by wrapping chain and keeping pulley wheels tight and close to the freewheel/cassette.  I did, however, replace the fragile Simplex Prestige shifter with a smooth and sturdy Simplex Criterium lever.    

After fishing the cable housing through the frame, I grabbed a shift cable and started to install it.  Then I remembered these old Simplex shifters take a cable end that is significantly smaller than contemporary shifter cables.  I was about to file down the cable end when I remembered I had a stash of cables I purchased from a shop back in the late 80s.  They were clearing out stock and I bought all they had – about a dozen or so.  I came across them recently while cleaning up.  On one end of the cable is the smaller barrel end and the other is the smaller disc shaped end that fits Huret shifters.  These are getting harder to find.

As I previously mentioned, the dynamo wiring is run inside the frame and tucked neatly into crimped edges of the fenders.  For those familiar with French bicycles, this was pretty common on city style bikes of a certain vintage.  It gives bikes a nice finished look.  No stay wire hanging about.

Next up… the Moulton!

I think the friction/indexed debate has become a little passé.  Although, I am probably not the person to declare such a thing.  Frankly, I’m profoundly indifferent on the matter these days.  I can work with friction on five and six speeds, and maybe seven.  Actually five and six speed is probably where I would prefer to draw the line.  But my Mercian touring bike and my daily commuter are both indexed 8 speeds.  I prefer eight speed over nine, ten, or, God forbid, eleven!  (The competition to add cogs to the cluster reminds me of the competition between Gillette and Schick to see how many blades they can load onto a plastic shaving razor.)

I do miss the days before indexing and before Shimano ruled the world.  There was a little more variety and that kept things interesting.  The 70s and 80s brought us some very appealing and useful rear derailleurs.  I’ve always been a tourer and commuter, not racer.  And, thankfully, there were plenty of long-cage offerings during that period.  Huret, Simplex, Campagnolo, Suntour, and Shimano all had respectable touring derailleurs. 

Suntour made some excellent derailleurs and I have logged a lot of miles on the old V-GT Luxe.  This was a light and durable touring derailleur.  I used the same V-GT Luxe for 5 or 6 years of serious loaded touring before finally breaking the cage tension spring somewhere in Utah.  Even then I was able to disassemble and manipulate the broken spring enough to make it work until I could reach Park City and replace it.  In addition to my experience, I would say there is general consensus that the Suntour V-GT Luxe was a fine derailleur.

Not all vintage derailleurs have such broad support, however. The Huret Duopar is another touring derailleur from that era that is sometimes praised and other times maligned.

Recently, I was helping a friend of mine outfit a commuter bike he’s building.  It’s an early 80s Trek originally setup with a titanium Huret Duopar.  This Trek and its Duopar came matched to a wheel built with a Maillard Helicomatic.  Not an uncommon combination for the time. If you’re not familiar with the Helicomatic hub, look it up.  I remember when they first came out and having a shop owner show me the ease with which the freewheel could be removed using nothing but a little bottle opener tool. 

The easy-off freewheel was intriguing for a touring cyclist.  You see, replacing a rear drive-side spoke on tour meant you had to remove the freewheel to slide the broken spoke out and replace it with a new one.  I’ve replaced a lot of spokes while on tour and often miles from civilization.  To make this repair you had to carry a wrench big enough to fit the freewheel removal tool and give you the leverage necessary to break the freewheel loose.  Something like a 10” Crescent wrench was the minimum requirement.  With the Helicomatic you could use the bottle opener.

Unfortunately, the hubs turned out to be marginal.  I used one for a short time and broke spokes.  So I was glad the freewheel popped off easily.  The other part of this hub was the proprietary Maillard freewheel.   Trek sold touring models in the early 80s that included a Helicomatic and Maillard freewheel matched with a Huret Duopar.  Again, the Helicomatic had its issues, but the Maillard freewheel was perhaps the real weak link in this combination. 

The flat, non-profiled cogs on the Maillard spoiled the shifting performance of the Duopar.  If you hear some old-timer complain about how poorly the Duopar shifted you could usually find a Maillard freewheel was an unmentioned part of that grievance.

I’ve used the Duopar off and on over the years and I think it is a good derailleur.  I currently have Duopars on my Woodrup and my old Raleigh Competition.  When matched with the modern ramped and profiled cogs on a Shimano Hyperglide, it shifts like butter. This leads me to the conclusion of this rambling post.  An important but sometimes overlooked variable in the quality of shifting is the freewheel of cassette. 

Because everything is indexed today, we take the profiled and ramped cogs for granted.  But there was a time when French and Italian freewheel cogs were flat and square.  Suntour freewheel cogs changed that.  The teeth were tapered and sometimes slightly twisted to help grab the chain during gear changes. Not to take anything away from Suntour, but at least some of their reputation for great shifting originates with their improved freewheel design.

So, next time you get into a debate about the comparative shifting quality of vintage derailleurs, be sure to check the freewheel.