Throughout much of its history, Shimano has had an abiding fascination with spring-loading the cables that operate its derailleurs. This entails either including a sprung cable stop or a sprung cable clamp.

Shimano's hard working Marketing Department has justified this in a number of ways:

• As a way of protecting the cable and extending its life - the 'Cable Saver'.
• As a way of allowing the rider to 'Pre-select' a gear while the bike and chain are stationery - with the derailleur springing into action when the pedals start turning.
• Or as a way of providing a seductive 'Light Action' that makes it easier and more pleasing to shift gears.

I never really bought into the first two explanations - but I thoroughly agreed with the third one.

These derailleurs with sprung cable mounting systems were surprisingly nice to use with a pleasing, supple, fluid, change.