The DnB 66 was one of the 1960s Japanese derailleurs that were very derivative of a Huret Svelto. In 1963 SunTour had introduced the Huret Svelto to Japan, and had then developed the Huret-tribute, 1963, SunTour Skitter. Sanko had also developed the, classy but Svelto-adjacent, 1965, Sanko PF.
Looking at the DnB 66, there are flat plates everywhere, the hanger plate is pure Huret, and the placing of the adjustment screws is pure Svelto.
However there are perplexing differences. The gear actually works with a rather nice cam action (rather than a parallelogram being directly pulled out of shape). The pulley cage is pivoted in the middle, not at the top pulley as on nearly all early Huret designs. The pulley wheels have plain bearings, without a Huret-style ball-bearing in sight.
I am aware of number of variations of the DnB 66:
- I believe that the earliest versions have a black painted name plate branded 'DnB' and have a black hanger plate and b-pivot bolt. These derailleurs carry a two letter code on the b-knuckle that begins witrh the letter 'R'.
- The second version gets a silver hanger plate. The two letter code on these models begins with the letter 'S'.
- A third iteration has a red painted name plate branded 'Falcon'. This version also gains an extra plate at the p-pivot to allow the p-pivot tension spring to be adjusted with a choice of three postiions.
- For the fourth generation the b-knuckle is widened, perhaps to strengthen it - as this knuckle is often bent on well-used examples.
- A fifth generation has a red painted name plate , but this is back to being branded 'DnB'. Other changes are that the two letter codes have disappeared and the adjustment screws have Phillips heads.
- And finally, the sixth generation has a red anodised nameplate.
For completeness, I should also add two comments:
- I have been told that, for the fifth and sixth generations (listed above), the reason that DnB changed the branding back from 'Falcon' to 'DnB' was because, in 1969, Shimano launched their own Shimano Falcon model. It's only hearsay, but it sounds plausible.
- DNP of Taiwan produced a very similar derailleur sometime in the early 1970s. The similarity between the derailleurs, between the names 'DnB' and 'DNP' and between the fonts used for the logos begs the question of whether there was cooperation between the two companies. Or, perhaps, the Taiwanese indulged in some staggeringly blatant 'borrowing' of DnB's intellectual property!
This is a beautiful, unused, example of the first version of the DnB 66, as described above. Some of its features are:
- The name plate is branded 'DnB' and has a painted black background.
- The name plate has no punched-in grips attaching it to the top parallelogram plate.
- The hanger plate and b-pivot allen bolt are black.
- The b-knuckle has a round pressed in stop to control the movement of the hanger plate.
- The b-knuckle is narrow.
- The adjustment screws have slotted heads.
- The cable clamp nut is 9mm.
- The p-pivot spring tension was not adjustable.
- Derailleur brands: DnB
- Country: Japan
- Date of introduction: 1965?
- Date of this example: 1965? (two letter code RF)
- Model no.: unknown
- Weight: 272g including hanger plate
- Maximum cog: 26 teeth (the largest sprocket offered by DnB)
- Total capacity: unknown
- Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
- Index compatibility: friction
- Chain width: 1/8" and 3/32”
- Logic: top normal
- B pivot: unsprung
- P pivot: sprung
- Materials: steel