This is the first design of derailleur to be manufactured in the DDR. I came from what had been the Fichtel & Sachs (F&S) factory in Reichenbach, which, I believe, had never manufactured F&S derailleurs. However this FuS design does, naturally, use a lot of small parts that are very similar to those on my F&S 9/a derailleur. It is also constructed and finished to a high standard.

But this is a new design, not a pure copy. For example it has a plain round pulley wheel, with no teeth (which is not F&S’s normal style), and a chain pusher plate (which is also unusual for F&S).

The hanger plate on this derailleur is particularly baroque. In its original form there was a very splendid rubber boot protecting the sliding shaft mechanism. Unfortunately this had rotted to a few wisps by the time I got my hands on it.

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1. •Brand: FuS
   

2. •Country: Germany (DDR at the time)
   

3. •Date of introduction: 1950?
   

4. •Date of this example: unknown
   

5. •Model no: unknown
   

6. •Weight: 346g including hanger plate
   

7. •Maximum cog: 22 teeth?
   

8. •Total capacity: 8 teeth?
   

9. •Pulley centre to centre: not applicable
   

10. •Index compatibility: friction
    

11. •Chain width: 1/8”
    

12. •Logic: low normal
    

13. •Pivots: one sprung pivot
    

14. •Material: steel
    

0292/J