DISRAELI DOCUMENTS

Rapid

French Patent 937,695 - Rapid main image French Patent 937,695 - Rapid main image French Patent 937,695 - Rapid main image


see also French Patent # 937,695 - Rapid 1945

see also French Patent # 937,695 - Rapid 1945

French Patent 937,695 - Rapid thumbnail


see also Le Cycle 11/1946 - image of Rapid back pedal changer

see also Le Cycle 11/1946 - image of Rapid back pedal changer

  • Publisher: Le Cycle
  • Date: November 1946
  • Derailleur brands: Rapid
  • Derailleurs: Rapid back pedal changer
Le Cycle 1946 11 - Rapid back pedal shift thumbnail


see also Le Cycle 12/1949 - image of Rapid

see also Le Cycle 12/1949 - image of Rapid

  • Publisher: Le Cycle
  • Date: December 1949
  • Derailleur brands: Rapid
  • Derailleurs: Rapid
Le Cycle 1949 12 - Rapid thumbnail


Cambio "Rapid" 1949?

Cambio "Rapid" 1949?

  • Publisher: Rapid
  • Date: 1949?
  • Derailleur brands: Rapid
  • Derailleurs: Rapid
Cambio Rapid thumbnail

What do I know about the Rapid brand? Not much:

  • It was manufactured in Milano, Italy - and is not to be confused with the French 'Super Rapid' brand.
  • In 1945 a Bruno Terzi patented a design for a 3-speed derailleur operated by back pedalling.
  • Around 1946 Rapid released a version of this derailleur. Le Cycle describes this as a 4-speed system that is operated by back pedalling a quarter of a turn of the chainset. How exactly this worked in the intermediate gears is still unclear to me.
  • Around 1949 Rapid released a second, rather advanced, parallelogram derailleur that mounted underneath the chainstay. This derailleur was controlled by a conventional cable. Note that this was an Italian parallelogram derailleur released several years before the Campagnolo Gran Sport.