This Excel lives in the shadow of its more famous sibling, the Elgin American. Perhaps the lack of a resonant brand, a patriotic moniker and Stars and Stripes imagery held it back. It is, however the same device with subtler branding on its outer parallelogram plate. In fact the branding is so subtle it is nearly invisible.

I believe this was Excel’s budget offering, with - and I know it is hard to believe this - the Dynamic range as their ‘quality’ offering.

There is a certain honesty about this Excel’s design and construction - but it remains an outdated design constructed using the least expensive materials available. Not always a recipe for market domination - although it did work for the Big Mac and the Ford F150 Pickup.

This particular example has been fashioned (by my own unskilled hand) out of two original items, both of which had suffered catastrophic failures of the plastic knuckles. I apologise for the dodgy riveting on two of the parallelogram pivots.

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• Derailleur brands: Excel
• Country: USA
• Date of introduction: 1977?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: unknown
• Weight: 289g including hanger plate
• Maximum cog: 28 teeth? (Sutherlands 4th edition claims an unlikely 34 teeth)
• Total capacity: 28 teeth? (Sutherlands 4th edition claims an unlikely 38 teeth)
• Pulley centre to centre: 54mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: sprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: largely steel with plastic knuckles