DISRAELI DOCUMENTS

Super-Rapid

French Patent 767,154 - Ideal main image French Patent 807,506 - Ideal main image French Patent 848,964 - Ideal main image


see also French Patent # 767,154 - Super-Rapid 1934

see also French Patent # 767,154 - Super-Rapid 1934

French Patent 767,154 - Ideal thumbnail


see also French Patent # 807,506 - Super-Rapid 1935

see also French Patent # 807,506 - Super-Rapid 1935

French Patent 807,506 - Ideal thumbnail


see also L'Auto 03/10/1935 - Le Stand L. Valat

see also L'Auto 03/10/1935 - Le Stand L. Valat

L'Auto 03-10-35 thumbnail





see also New Cycling 05/1981 - '81 Derailleur Collection

see also New Cycling 05/1981 - '81 Derailleur Collection

  • Publisher: New Cycling
  • Date: May 1981
  • Derailleur brands: too numerous to list here
  • Derailleurs: too numerous to list here
New Cycling May 1981 - Derailleur Collection page 017 thumbnail

Établissement Super-Rapid was based in Le Coteau, about 50 miles north of Saint-Étienne, in France. The only products that it manufactured, that I am aware of, are derailleurs. You do see brakes branded 'Super Rapid' but these are made in Milano, Italy by a completely different and unrelated company.

Super-Rapid is something of a mystery. On the one hand, if you hang around ebay.fr or french flea markets, you will see a surprisingly large number of Super-Rapid derailleurs, spread across half a dozen different models, some in clearly branded boxes. On the other hand there is startlingly little information about the company or its products. The most that I can manage are two adverts, dating from 1939, in L'Officiel A.C.M..

The picture is further clouded by what I believe to be an (extremely rare) error in Frank Berto's seminal work The Dancing Chain. The Super-Rapid Record is pictured but the caption refers to it as an Idéal model. This is an understandable mistake as Idéal did produce a derailleur with a very interesting sloping sliding action. The Super-Rapid Record also has a sloping sliding action - but is a quite different design from the Idéal.

A number of patents associated with Super-Rapid designs were taken out by an individual called Onofre Forton. It is possible that he is the owner of the company. Needless to say, I have been unable to find any formal records of the company anywhere - so I cannot confirm this.