I know very little about this derailleur. On the one hand it seems very derivative of a Huret Svelto. The hanger plate is pure Huret, and the placing of the adjustment screws is pure Svelto.

However there are perplexing differences. The gear actually works with a rather nice cam action (rather than a parallelogram being directly pulled out of shape). The pulley cage is pivoted in the middle not at the top pulley as on nearly all early Huret designs.

Most perplexing of all is the claim that has been made to me that there only ever was one DNB parallelogram design and this is it. Hiroshi Nakamura claims that DNB introduced their parallelogram design in 1958, five years before the Huret Svelto. How could DNB produce a copy five years before the original?

This whole confusing story finds an echo in the contention (that is never quite confirmed or refuted) that Huret may have made the first Skitter for SunTour. Looking at this gear it seems perfectly possible that DNB made the first Skitter.

This particular example has a red name plate branded ‘DNB’ (I realise it is hard to see this in a side view!). I have seen similar versions with the red name plate but branded ‘DNB Falcon’.

I have also been emailed by a cyclist with happy memories of a bike they bought new in New York in 1972 which was fitted with a red DNB derailleur - indicating that this model may have been in production for some years.

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1. •Brand: DNB
   

2. •Country: Japan
   

3. •Date of introduction: 1958? (which seems impossibly early)
   

4. •Date of this example: unknown
   

5. •Model no: unknown
   

6. •Weight: 275g including hanger plate
   

7. •Maximum cog: 28 teeth?
   

8. •Total capacity: 28 teeth?
   

9. •Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
   

10. •Index compatibility: friction
    

11. •Chain width: 3/32”?
    

12. •Logic: top normal
    

13. •Pivots: two pivots, front sprung and rear unsprung
    

14. •Material: steel
    

15. •My theme: A riot of colour
    

0283/J