The Zeus/Alfa Amateur series were Zeus/Alfa's economy models in the early 1980s. They used the same geometry as most of their better models, but combined plastic knuckles with rather nasty pressed steel parallelogram plates.

The very earliest versions (from 1981?) were called Alfa Amateur and had the word 'Alfa' cast onto the b-knuckle. They also did not have a metal plate between the b-knuckle and the gear hanger.

Later versions (from 1982?) appear to be simply called Zeus Amateur and had no writing on the b-knuckle at all. These models do have a metal plate between the b-knuckle and the gear hanger.

The 1980s were a chaotic time for the design of Zeus/Alfa's pulley cages. And nothing captures this better than the history of the Amateur. I am not completely sure what the issue was, but it seems to have something to do with chain-wrap. The story may go something like this:

• The initial, 1981?, model had a steel version of Zeus’ longstanding pulley cage design, with Zeus’ traditional, elegantly tapered, rotation stop halting the movement of the cage at about 80 degrees to the axis of the parallelogram.
• Possibly for 1982 the rotation stop was changed to be a, rather crass, plain cylindrical item more typical of Alfa models. The lumpiness of this stop meant that the movement of the cage stopped at noticeably less than 80 degrees - perhaps 75 degrees.
• Then, perhaps in 1983, the pulley cage plates became aluminium. The outer plate was reshaped so that the rotation stop was mounted on a protruding area that allowed greater chain-wrap. The angle was now around 100 degrees.
• Finally, possibly in 1985, the pulley cage plates were completely redesigned with the curvaceous shape and more modern geometry used on the top of the line Zeus Supercronoss.

While I am reasonably confident about the order in which these changes were made, I am far less confident about the exact dates on which they occurred. I would also note, with some bafflement, that Galli was also messing with their pulley cage plates in a similar way during the same period.

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This is a clean 1985? version of the Zeus Amateur.

This version has a metal plate between the b-knuckle and the gear hanger. The pulley cage now has the fluid curved shape used on the 1984 Zeus Supercronos.

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• Derailleur brands: Zeus
• Categories: Zeus - the bad and the ugly
• Country: Spain
• Date of introduction: 1985?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: 22400
• Weight: 202g
• Maximum cog: 30 teeth
• Total capacity: 28 teeth?
• Pulley centre to centre: 45mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: steel parallelogram plates, plastic knuckles and aluminium pulley cage plates

Ref. 1416