DISRAELI GEARS

EDCO Competition (1990? racing version)

EDCO Competition (1990? racing version) main image

During the 1980s and 1990s, EDCO, a Swiss company that made beautiful Swiss products with precision Swiss bearings - bottom brackets, headsets, hubs, all that good stuff - decided that it wanted to offer complete groupsets.

Its chosen approach was to buy in components like brakes and derailleurs. EDCO sold its high-end Swiss bicycle jewellery at high-end Swiss prices - so, coming from French-speaking Switzerland, it was looking for the very best derailleurs that the Francophone world could provide.

My knowledge is a touch sketchy, but I am aware of six generations of these EDCO derailleurs:

  • The first EDCO derailleur that I remember, possibly from 1984, was a rebranded Simplex SLJ6600 T. This was, arguably, the top of Simplex's range at the time.
  • Then, possibly in 1985, I think they used a rebranded Simplex SLJ5500 T. This was arguably a step down from the SLJ6600 T, but was marginally lighter, and possibly more 'racy'. Or they may have made the change because Simplex was in some chaos at the time.
  • In 1986? they dropped Simplex and adopted a rebranded version of Sachs-Huret's top-of-the range New Success (47.1D). This had a cleaner, more modern, look that fitted better with the EDCO aesthetic. At the time Sachs-Huret also made a lot of noise about how they were determined to build a top-quality technically advanced brand. Finally, I think that EDCO may also have offered a version of the long cage Sachs-Huret New Success Touring (47.1T).
  • In 1988? EDCO moved into the world of indexing with a rebranded Sachs-Huret New Success ARIS (47.2D). The EDCO version of this derailleur had something of a cult following, because it was anodised silver, rather than the grey colour of the Sachs-Huret original. Again, I think that EDCO may also have offered a version of the long cage Sachs-Huret New Success ARIS Touring (47.2T).
  • For 1990? EDCO moved up to the 8-speed Sachs-Huret New Success Sport (54.01D). I don't know if EDCO offered a long cage version.
  • And finally in 1994? moved on to the Sachs New Success Sport (RNS 00). This was offered in a choice of 'looks' - silver anodised for the 'racing' groupset and with a black & red outer parallelogram plate for the 'triathlon' groupset. EDCO additionally offered the long cage Sachs New Success MTB (MNS 00) derailleur both as part of a touring groupset and also as part of a mountain bike groupset.
  • ...

And there is probably more that I have forgotten (or never even knew) about.


This is a thoroughly battered example of the fifth generation described above. It is a rebranded Sachs-Huret New Success Sport (54.01D).

Some distinguishing features include:

  • It has a sprung cable saver built into the cable stop. This is steel and also requires a steel inner paralelogram plate.
  • The cable adjuster is a conventional knurled item.
  • It has an 'aero' outer pulley cage plate without any cutouts.
  • The inner pulley cage plate does not have a kink at the tension pulley.
  • It has steel pulley bolts.
  • It has conventional pulleys running on bushes.


  • Derailleur brands: EDCO, manufactured by Sachs-Huret
  • Country: Switzerland, manufactured in France by a German company!
  • Date of introduction: 1990?
  • Date of this example: 1990 (stamped 2590, week 25 1990)
  • Model no.: unknown
  • Weight: 239g
  • Maximum cog: 30 teeth (based on a Sachs-Huret New Success)
  • Total capacity: 28 teeth (based on a Sachs-Huret New Success)
  • Pulley centre to centre: 50mm
  • Index compatibility: 8 speed
  • Chain width: 3/32”
  • Logic: top normal
  • B pivot: sprung
  • P pivot: sprung
  • Materials: largely aluminium with a steel inner parallelogram plate
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