DISRAELI GEARS
In many ways, the Ingrid RD1 is an encouraging beast. A mechanical derailleur in the age of electronics, an unashamed exercise in stylish aesthetics, even an artisan product that aspires to co-exist with industrial behemoths. Best of all, its modular, 3D printed design allows you, by swapping relatively minor components, to simply exit the Shimano 'walled-garden' and enter the SRAM 'eco-system' - or vice versa - and that is very hard to dislike.
It also highlights another feature of the modern derailleur. If you want to handle a 52 toothed sprocket you need a big derailleur - and the Ingrid RD1 is huge. It feels huge in your hand, it has hugely wide parallelogram plates to provide the required rigidity, it sports a huge, 100mm long, pulley cage and (whisper it quietly), even with all its impressive technology, it weighs a not-un-huge 272g.
The Ingrid RD1 comes in a mind-blowing range of variants, all offered in an eye-watering range of anodised colours - including the legendary 'Rasta' red, gold and green. This example is a SRAM, 12 speed, mountain bike, long-cage model finished in an undyed hard-anodised finish which gives it a distinctive 'antique bronze' look. Hard-anodising might just be the afficionados choice - subtle, understated and as tough as nails.
