Sachs designed this derailleur around the geometry of the Huret Allvit. Improvements that they incorporated include a pleasantly straight cable path, and comprehensible adjustment screws.

Improvements that they declined to incorporate include; moving to a standard hanger design (Huret’s hanger is mad - Sach’s hanger is madder), improving the aesthetics (is this the ugliest derailleur of all time?) and improving on the weight (the Super Sport is, as they say in Glasgow, ‘no stranger to a fish supper’ - it’s a good 40g heavier even than the Allvit).

By 1976 the Allvit was an 18 year old design and well past its sell-by date. In fact it has been suggested to me that Sachs created the Super Sport because Huret were thinking of killing off the Allvit (perhaps this should have provided Sachs with a clue).

If Basil Fawlty had designed a derailleur, this would be it. Don’t mention the war...

____________________________________________

1. •Brand: Sachs
   

2. •Country: Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
   

3. •Date of introduction: 1976
   

4. •Date of this example: Unknown (it has a ‘P’ and a ‘Z’ stamped on the hanger)
   

5. •Model no: unknown
   

6. •Weight: 388g including hanger plate
   

7. •Maximum cog: 30 teeth?
   

8. •Total capacity: 34 teeth?
   

9. •Pulley centre to centre: 50mm
   

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, steel and more steel
    

0281/J