DISRAELI GEARS
Germany
Browse the derailleurs by brand:
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see also GB Altenburger 1955
Fichtel & Sachs 9/a 1935
FuS (DDR at the time)
FuS Optima 1950?
see also Renak (1st style) 1954?
see also Renak (2nd style) 1955?
see also Renak (3rd style) 1955?
see also Renak (4th style) 1955?
Honer 1951
Optima (DDR at the time)
Optima 1955
Renak (DDR at the time)
see also FuS Optima 1950?
Renak (1st style) 1954?
Renak (2nd style) 1955?
Renak (3rd style) 1955?
Renak (4th style) 1955?
Sachs Super Sport 1976
see also Huret Commander (12913) 1981?
see also Sachs-Huret Commander (12900) 1983
see also Huret Rival (2850-00) 1981?
see also Sachs-Huret New Success 1985
see also Sachs-Huret New Success touring 1985
see also Sachs-Huret New Success ARIS 1987
see also Regina America 1992
Sachs New Success 1994?
see also Stronglight ‘La France’ 1997?
Sachs Plasma 1997
see also Huret Commander (12913) 1981?
see also Huret Rival (2850-00) 1981?
see also Regina America 1992
Tectoron (DDR at the time)
Tectoron KS-01 1978?
Tectoron KS-01 black 1978?
See also: German documents
The backbone of any history of the German derailleur has to be the story of Fichtel & Sachs (F&S) and its subsequent incarnations; Sachs, Sachs-Huret, and then Sachs again. F&S dominated the German bicycle components industry with its Torpedo hub-gears from the beginning to nearly the end if the twentieth century. For much of the century F&S saw the derailleur as a niche product to be used to increase the gear range of a Torpedo hub-gear. F&S introduced their first derailleur, a single pulley design in 1935.
Other German derailleur brands from the inter-war years include Wissner, J.Wi.S, Wanderer and the interestingly named Durex manufactured by Prazisions-Werke Bielefeld (PWB). All are now only footnotes in the greater history of the derailleur.
Following the Second World War F&S picked up where it had left off, producing a single pulley pull-chain design. Later, in the mid 1950’s it moved on to a twin pulley pull-chain design derivative of a Huret. Frank Berto lists other derailleur makers as Altenburger, Honer, Kreis, Alda, Bismark, Magura, Rabeneick, Rasant, Reinhold, Wissner, Velo and a company he describes as Simplex-PWB. This implies that PWB had given up their Durex brand and licensed (or been bought by) Simplex. In the DDR (East Germany) there was Renak, Optima and Tectoron. More...