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The Catalog of Reminiscence

The Invitation for Cycling by Mr.Gami

Part 84: Simplex in 1964





Here is the catalog of Simplex in 1964. It was mainly introducing Prestige.
In comparison with the model in the 1965 catalog, Prestige in this catalog had different mechanism. It must have been a very early model.
Several kinds of wire guide, fork end, and quick shaft were also introduced in this catalog. Even now, those are popular models among vintage bicycle fan.

The catalog was offered by Mr. T. N




Front derailleur and rear derailleur were printed on the front cover.





Here are two kinds of Prestige rear derailleur and single lever. All the body of the derailleur was made of Delrin without reinforcing by metal plate. The pantograph and the cover of upper and lower part of spring were white. The screw which adjusted stroke width of right and left was a round shape thing with knurling inside the pantograph. We could rotate it by finger without tool. Moreover, because two on a diagonal of four shafts which constituted a pantograph were equipped with the snap ring, it was also possible to separate the upper and lower sides.
Model P was direct-attached type, and Model N was attached to the fork end by bracket.

The Single lever was made of white Delrin. As long as I watch the catalog, the fixing band was also made of Derlin.
I had used this rear derailleur for my randonneur bicycle. However, I was anxious about the strength because of Delrin. Therefore I quitted using it and kept it as a collection.





These were a front derailleur and two kinds of sifting lever. Both models were made of white Delrin. The fixing band of the front derailleur was also made of Delrin.
There were two kinds of model number for front derailleur such as AV223 and AV323. AV223 was used for double rings and AV323 was used for triple rings.
As for the shift lever, there seemed to be single model and double model. However, I don't know about the detail because the fixing band of single lever above is same as the band of double lever. I had used this double lever. Due to ultraviolet rays, its color had changed to yellow gradually.
I had seen several lightweight bicycles which equipped with these models in New Cycling magazine, because it was a sort of lightweight model in those days.





Outer cable band and several kinds of cable guides were introduced in this page. And the examples of recommendation of those attachment positions were also shown.
The pendulum type wire guide was the original mechanism of Simplex.





These were fork ends, seat post, quick shaft, and wing nut. Those products must be familiar to veteran cyclists.
Seat post and vertical quick shaft were very popular even now, had gotten high price in the internet auction.





These were two kinds of double chain ring and chain tension devices. Competition was produced for three-arm crank, and Touriste was produced for five pins crank such as TA and Stronglight. The minimum gear of Competition was 45T, Touriste was 28T. I had used both models. I had to improve the swing of the ring at times, because Touriste was thin. Though I have no intention to use it now, I like its design.
The illustration of the bottom might be tools. I'm sorry because I don't know them.






inserted by FC2 system