Sometime around 1990, Sachs-Huret redesigned the venerable Sachs-Huret Rival ARIS as the Rival 6000 and Rival 7000 series. At the time, I hated the new designs.

Sure the new models had a concealed p-pivot - but they were late to the party - Shimano had introduced this feature with the Shimano Santé four years before.

Sure the new short cage models had an 'aerodynamic' outer pulley cage plate. Again Shimano had long introduced these with the 1986 Santé - and were just about to abandon the idea and reintroduce cut outs with the 1992 Shimano Ultegra 6401. And the Rival 6000 and 7000 had a steel outer pulley cage plate which was, somehow, particularly naff. Low-end steel never sat happily with high-end aerodynamics.

To add insult to injury, the Rival 6000 and 7000 managed to weigh more than their predecessor, despite losing the rather pleasant 'light action' sprung cable clamp of the Rival ARIS, and despite having an aluminium, rather than steel, outer parallelogram plate. Seemingly impossible, but strangely true.

And finally, while the Rival ARIS was hardly a beauty, it managed to look serviceable, reliable and rugged. By aspiring to be suave and svelte, the Rival 6000 and 7000 looked merely pretentious, uncoordinated and ungainly. If you want to make jewellery you need the aesthetic skills of a jeweller - mere engineering won't do.

A low point.

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This is a rather clean example of the short cage Sachs-Huret 6000 model.

Apart from the logos, the differences between the Rival 6000 (53.01D) and the Rival 7000 (53.11D) appear to be:

• The 7000 is rated as an 8 speed and the 6000 is rated as an 7 speed. What this actually means is not clear to me - perhaps the pulley wheels are a different width.
• The 7000 has allen key pulley bolts. The 6000 makes do with hex head pulley bolts.

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• Derailleur brands: Sachs-Huret
• Categories: Sachs-Huret - the Rival story
• Country: Germany, manufactured in France
• Date of introduction: 1990
• Date of this example: 1990 (stamped 3690, week 36 1990)
• Model no.: 53.01D
• Weight: 276g
• Maximum cog: 28 teeth (bike shop folklore)
• Total capacity: 28 teeth (bike shop folklore)
• Pulley centre to centre: 50mm
• Index compatibility: 7 speed?
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: sprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: largely steel, with aluminium knuckles and outer parallelogram plate