BQ 6 (Winter 2003)

Vol. 2, No. 2

Campagnolo’s First Derailleur

Japanese expert Hiroshi Ichikawa traces the history and development of the Gran Sport, the first Campagnolo parallelogram derailleur. All modern derailleurs are direct descendants of this design. We also trace the lineage from the Nivex via the Gran Sport and the Huret Allvit to the Suntour slant parallelogram, which now is used by almost all modern derailleurs.

We look at the first Tour de France won by a Campagnolo derailleur (1951) and bring you an article by Daniel Rebour on winner Hugo Koblet’s bike, complete with Rebour’s evocative drawings.

Toni Theilmeier takes you into the mad world of paced stayer track racing, where world records and deadly crashes were almost weekly occurrences. We remain true to our randonneuring roots by featuring an amazing 1974 René Herse, while Ernest Csuka of Cycles Alex Singer walks us around a frame from the 1946 Technical Trials and explains how they made these bikes so light.