Yep, I use the term and I picked it up from British magazine bike reviews.
Cuz it sounds kinda cool and cuz I don't have to decide if I'm going to
type derailer or hope my phone knows how to spell derailleur.
Joe "that's a nice bit of kit" Bernard
On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 1:08:46 PM
Yep, British term. I've never heard it said here in the US but I've seen it
in writing plenty of times throughout my decade-plus of experience with
bikes (I was born seven years after Bridgestone USA folded and have been
working on bikes since late elementary school). As far as I know the term
has
I think "mech" is an ancient British cycling term, doubtless from back when
most British racing bikes were fixed gear time trial bikes, so that
anything as complicated and mechanical and fussy as a device to shift a
chain across multiple cogs was by contrast a "mechanism." And of course the
Brits
IIRC a retronym is a new term required when new tech or other developments
dictate a new term. The only example that comes to mind is "black and white
teevee" yo replace "teevee*" after colour teevees became a thing.
Or maybe not...
EricF
A sometime enjoyer of wordplay
* spelling hopefully
In 54 years of working on bicycles with derailleurs, I had never used or
heard them referred to as "mechs" until the last year or so. Where did this
come from? Does it only refer to non-electronic derailleurs?
Laing
Old guy in Delray Beach FL
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