DISRAELI DOCUMENTS

The Wylen Co., Ltd. - Hand Tools, Bicycles, & Bicycle Parts

The Wylen Co., Ltd. - Hand Tools, Bicycles, & Bicycle Parts scan 01 main image

This unassuming catalogue gives very little away. There is no photo of the factory, made to look massive by the cunning use of a wide-angle lens. There are no rousing but meaningless quotes from the owner/manager and there is no history page claiming that the company has been in business for oh-so-many years. Even the date is missing.

In terms of derailleurs, the photos are blurry and the text is unspecific, but my guess is that this catalogue shows three models:

  • A DNP model that is a Taiwanese copy of a DNB 66.
  • A Taiwanese copy of a Shimano Lark or Skylark, possibly made by SunRace, that shares displays the same dustcaps with a red dot in the middle as a Lambert in this collection.
  • A Shimano model that is either a Lark or a Skylark. My money is on the Skylark - mainly because it was the less expensive of the two.

I am guessing that this document dates from sometime around 1973, based largely on three 'facts':

  • The Shimano derailleurs, shown, have silver caps on their b- and p-pivots - which places then in the early 1970s.
  • DNP was established in 1971.
  • SunRace was established in 1972.

If this 1973 date is real, this is one of the older pieces of Taiwanese literature on this site - and very much valued for that.