Paul is the brand of Paul Component Engineering of Chico, California. Owned by Paul Price (?), Paul Component Engineering is basically a CNC machine shop dedicated to producing high quality bicycle components in low volumes. I believe that they started up in 1989 and that they are still thriving today.

They introduced the Powerglide rear derailleur in 1995 and produced it for a few years. It s no longer in production.

Frank Berto ascribes the demise of the various CNC derailleurs, such as the Paul Powerglide, to Shimano’s 1996 introduction of the XTR groupset. Personally I think that there is only so far that natty anodising can take you - consumers quickly found that the CNC derailleurs did not change especially well, were easily damaged and were ferociously expensive. Manufacturers equally quickly found that they could make better money and provide a more useful service by concentrating on other more niche components.

Still, it was a wild and colourful party while it lasted.