Framebuilder Matt Chester has posted some good info on pre-derailer Tour setups, mostly as part of his sporadic "Wednesday's Wisdom of the Past" series:
http://mattchester.blogspot.com/2008/01/wednesdays-wisdom-of-past-1921-tour-de.html >From the sources he quotes it looks like the favored setup was two freewheels on a flip-flop hub, with different single chainrings fitted depending on the profile of the stage. In another post a source says that the racers always used freewheels, and posited that riding a fixed gear in the race over such terrain would be stupid and/or dangerous. On Feb 8, 8:53 am, Eric Norris <[email protected]> wrote: > Well, "The Dancing Chain" doesn't help much: > > "Henri Desgrange, who had long opposed variable gears, eventually > relented and permitted derailleurs in the 1937 Tour de France. Given > the enormous popularity of the Tour, this was hailed as the ultimate > victory for the rear derailleur." > > I do recall reading somewhere that the riders in the TdF were either > all fixed or all on freewheels due to the advantage in downhills and > cornering offered by a freewheel. Fixed riders would have been at a > disadvantage, so all the bikes were kept the same. Perhaps multi- > speed freewheels made their appearance before the derailleur needed to > shift on them in 1937. > > --Eric > [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
