DISRAELI GEARS
The Cyclo Benelux Super 60 was a very serious attempt by the Cyclo Gear Company to compete with Campagnolo. It was designed to be a top quality racing derailleur - and it included a number of innovative features. The stop on the unsprung pivot was adjustable, but would not only work with Campagnolo drop-outs but also with Simplex and Cyclo’s versions. The parallelogram spring and main pivot spring were designed to be easily adjustable, and the pivot was off-set from the axis of the pulley wheels - three years before Campagnolo adopted this design on the 1963 Campagnolo Record. Finally the whole gear was disassemblable, with circlips on the parallelogram pivot pins.
The Super 60 was also very well made and lushly chromed. However, it was an expensive, over-engineered and heavy design - and lacked the Continental exoticism and Tour de France authenticity that Campagnolo marketed so well. In 1967 the Campagnolo’s much lighter, aluminium, Nuovo Record killed the Super 60 stone dead.
This is a slightly mysterious version with an asymmetrical outer pulley cage plate (similar in shape to a pull-chain Cyclo Benelux Mark 7). The outer pulley cage plate is stamped ‘5sp 3/32” - 4sp 1/8”’ and the inner pulley cage plate is stamped ‘Cyclo made in England’. Cyclo do refer to a ‘special’ six speed version of the Super 60 - but I do not think that this is it.
