DISRAELI GEARS
Of all the various US made CNC-art-object derailleurs of the mid 1990’s the Precision Billet Proshift seemed to me to offer the most. It was devastatingly light, had two sprung pivots (and so was widely considered to work with Shimano SIS) and had all the trick elements; stainless steel fittings, sealed bearing pulley wheels etc.. Precision Billet also seemed to be a serious company intent on actually manufacturing hardware rather than vapourware.
I am aware of six generations of Precision Billet Proshift derailleurs, which may go roughly as follows:
Precision Billet, in California, possibly continued manufacturing for a few years. But, after this third generation, the derailleurs seemed to, gently, fade away. It is possible that Precision Billet, in California, ceased trading in 2006.
But then something truly surreal happened. Toronto Cycles, of Toronto, Canada, were (and possibly are) a manufacturer of small, trick, anodised CNC bolts and parts. It is possible that they manufactured some spare parts for the Proshift derailleurs after 2006. Then, possibly in 2011, they entered the picture by buying the 'www.precisionbillet.com' URL. Then, possibly in 2014, they relaunched the Precision Proshift derailleurs.
But Toronto Cycles did not seem to have anything to do with Precision Billet, in California. It is possible that they did not even acquire any intellectual property from Precision Billet. It is even, even, possible that Toronto Cycles simply measured up the derailleurs, punched in the numbers and set the CNC machines rolling. As you may imagine, lawyers, possibly (allegedly?), became involved.
Continuing the 'generations' theme, outlined above, Toronto Cycles seem to have manufactured three more generations:
Some afficionados have suggested that these Toronto derailleurs should be regarded as 'fakes'. I would agree, but this should not imply that they are necessarily less technically capable or historically interesting.
It's a total brain melt.
This, high-mileage, non-fake, example is a third generation model with a ‘medium’ length pulley cage.
I can't finish without making a comment about the colour scheme. That combination of turquoise with gold is pleasantly disturbing.
Browse associated documents.
Proshift by Precision Billet - Installation Guide & Owners Manual (08/1996)
Proshift by Precision Billet - Installation Guide & Owners Manual (08/1996)