DISRAELI GEARS
Triplex is the brand name of Industrias Baskaran, headed up by Guillermo Baskaran and based near Eibar, in the Basque region (this is the same town as Zeus). Triplex claims, on its website, that it was established in 1936. However Industrias Baskaran SA was established in its present form in 1950 (before 1950 it had some other name or legal status).
The earliest evidence of a Triplex derailleur is a listing of a Spanish ‘Utility Model’ (a kind of mini-patent) granted to ‘Antonio Bascarán’ in December 1943. This covers a cog-driven derailleur of original-ish design.
However, in July 1948 ‘Antonio Bascaran Remetaria’ was granted a full Spanish patent for a derailleur design that is very derivative of the 1947 twin pulley Simplex Champion de Monde - a design that shortly afterwards morphed into the famous 1948 Simplex Tour de France. Triplex added a typical flourish - a cut out in the main arm that probably saved a tiny amount of weight.
I have been told that Triplex made bronze copies of the Campagnolo Gran Sport in the early 1960’s or even in the late 1950’s. I have never seen any of these in the flesh, although it is perfectly possible. Triplex certainly continued to register Spanish ‘Utility Models’ throughout the 1950s - but I am not clear what exactly they were registering.
In 1963 Antonio Bascarán Remetaria was granted a full Spanish Patent for a rather nasty looking pressed steel derailleur that is very derivative of a Campagnolo Gran Sport.
I also have a steel Triplex Sport derailleur that is a clone of an early 1960s Campagnolo Record.
The famous Triplex derailleurs, produced from 1970, were aluminium copies of the Campagnolo Nuovo Record that were notable for their rough finish. The ‘cheaper’ versions were called ‘Sport’ and the ‘more deluxe’ (titter ye not!) versions were called ‘Profesional’. As well as these signature products, Triplex continued to make a sequence of entertainingly tacky pressed steel models.
Unlike Zeus, Triplex never seemed to aspire to be a real high-end brand, and contented itself with making mid to low-end components. Also unlike Zeus, Triplex did seem to be able to sell original equipment components to major French bicycle producers - and so their products were quite visible on the European scene for a while.
At some point, possibly in the early 1970s, Triplex launched a sub brand called Tximista (Basque for Lightning). This brand was used on its usual copies of the Campagnolo Nuovo Record and also on a pleasantly awful copy of a Shimano Crane. How the Tximista sub-brand was supposed to be positioned relative to the main Triplex brand is knowledge lost to all mankind.
From the 1980s onwards Triplex developed a completely new group of derailleurs. It appears that they secretly hired Bizarro to ‘duplicate’ Campagnolo’s C-Record models with his special ray. Everything that is elegant about the Campagnolo is turned to clumsiness, everything that is quality is turned to tatt, every polished surface is made rough and dull... you get the idea.
Triplex was still showing its own brand of derailleur on its web site as late as 2005, although more recently it has just offered SunRace models.
Triplex exists today, largely as an importer and distributor, although it does list an address for its factory on its website, and does describe itself as a manufacturer of drinking bottles and of steel and aluminium brakes on some other sites.
see also Spanish Utility Model # 9,206 - Triplex 1943
see also Spanish Utility Model # 9,206 - Triplex 1943
see also Spanish Patent # 184,494 - Triplex 1948
see also Spanish Patent # 184,494 - Triplex 1948
see also Spanish Trademark # 234,001 - Triplex 1950
see also Spanish Trademark # 234,001 - Triplex 1950
see also Spanish Utility Model # 27,560 - Triplex? 1951
see also Spanish Utility Model # 27,560 - Triplex? 1951
see also Spanish Utility Model # 66,251 - Triplex 1958
see also Spanish Utility Model # 66,251 - Triplex 1958
see also Spanish Utility Model # 86,000 - Triplex 1961
see also Spanish Utility Model # 86,000 - Triplex 1961
see also Spanish Patent # 287,924 - Triplex 1963
see also Spanish Patent # 287,924 - Triplex 1963
see also Spanish Patent # 332,571 - Triplex 1966
see also Spanish Patent # 332,571 - Triplex 1966
see also Spanish Patent # 347,173 - Triplex 1967
see also Spanish Patent # 347,173 - Triplex 1967
see also Spanish Patent # 199,262 - Triplex 1974
see also Spanish Patent # 199,262 - Triplex 1974
see also Spanish Patent # 216,763 - Triplex 1975
see also Spanish Patent # 216,763 - Triplex 1975
see also New Cycling 05/1981 - '81 Derailleur Collection
see also New Cycling 05/1981 - '81 Derailleur Collection