Rino Elite? derailleur

I believe that the very last Rino derailleurs to be unleashed on the world were rebranded DNP Epoch-1s. The DNP Epoch-1 was, itself, a faithful copy of a SunTour Cyclone 7000. So there is not much of Rino's DNA even close to this derailleur. However this mongrel parentage means that it is a relatively well designed and solidly engineered object - if a little heavy.

There is a bit of a trend here. FiR also offered rebranded DNP Epoch-1s as their lower-end models - although FiR up-specced even these with Allen key cable clamp bolts and classy finishes.

This example is the long cage version - which, I have been told, may be called the Rino Elite - although I do not have any documentary evidence for this.

I have two thoughts about this particular derailleur:

Firstly it came to me encrusted in rock hard muck, with well used pulley wheels and looking as if it had just enjoyed a full fifteen rounds with Mike Tyson. Despite this it has cleaned up rather respectably and exhibits exactly no play - which is a tribute to the quality of its construction and finishes. That chrome just gleams.
Secondly it is not a derailleur that I ever expected to see. An 85mm cage usually indicates that this is a mountain bike (rather than 'racing triple') component. Rino was such a 'roadie' brand - I don't think I have ever seen a Rino equipped mountain bike (although I have seen a Rino thumb shifter). By 1989 the Italian component industry was in full-blown panic in the face of the mountain bike boom (and related road bike bust) so anything was possible - FiR, after all, offered the very similar FiR Nettuno?. But even so, a Rino mountain bike derailleur seems a touch desperate.