Simplex (component manufacturer)

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Simplex was a French bicycle component manufacturer. The company was founded by the French inventor and industrialist Lucien Charles Hippolyte Juy.

history

Juy developed the first derailleur in the modern parallelogram and produced in 1935 a simple derailleur under the name Champion de France . The serial production of derailleur gears soon began. Until the early 1980s, Simplex was the most important manufacturer of derailleur gears. The five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault (Tour wins 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985) most recently achieved overall victory in the Tour with a simplex circuit. The Simplex Super LJ used by Hinault was superior to Campagnolo's gears when changing gears . In 1992 the last simplex rear derailleur - a further development by Ofmega - appeared.

Derailleurs and groups

Simplex rear derailleurs were standard for a long time, especially on French bikes. In addition to switching groups, Simplex also manufactured other components such as seat posts, bottle holders and quick releases.

1930s

  • Simplex pull-chain models
  • Champion de France (1935)
  • Champion du Monde (1935?)

1940s

  • Rigidex, simple universal switchgear
  • Champion du moons; Derailleur with one pulley, reissued in 1946
  • Tour de France, launched in 1948 as a further development of the "Campion du Monde" circuit.

1950s

  • JUY50; Racing bike rear derailleur (used in the Tour de France)
  • JUY51 front derailleur; JUY 53 rear derailleur: complete racing bike group for 2 × 5 gears, released in 1951.
  • Grand Tourisme (1952)
  • JUY543, racing bike rear derailleur with two pulleys

1960s

  • Record 60; Rear derailleur
  • JUY Export 61, racing bike derailleur with the first plastic pulleys (1961)
  • Prestige (532) (1962)
  • Prestige (537) (1965)
  • Prestige (637) (1966)
  • Prestige Cadet (1st version) (1962)
  • Prestige Cadet (2nd version) (1965)

1970s

  • Retrofriction, popular frame shift levers, on the market from 1973
  • Prestige (SX110) (1970?)
  • Peugeot Prestige (SX410) (1975)
  • SLJ 5000; Racing bike gearshift (in "gold" and "silver")
  • SLJ 5500; Racing bike gear, 219 grams (in "gold" and "silver")
  • Super LJ; Racing bike gears, 219 grams (in "gold" 1972 and "silver" 1975)
  • Delrin; Road bike groupset (front derailleur, rear derailleur, gear lever)
  • SX610, rear derailleur with one pulley

1980s

  • Super LJ SLJ 6600 (1982)
  • SX610 GT, group for touring bikes (1982)
  • Selematic 5, simple 5-speed rear derailleur (1981)
  • SX 810 switching group up to 7-fold. Also installed with the Peugeot logo on Peugeot Super Sport wheels.
  • 440 (1st and 2nd version) racing bike rear derailleur (1985)
  • Ofmega ; modern 9-speed racing bike rear derailleur, 215 grams (1988)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Moore, Daniel Benson, Robert Penn: Bike !: A Tribute to the World's Greatest Racing Bicycles. The Miegunyah Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-5228-61839 .
  2. ^ Bill McGann, Carol McGann: The Story of the Tour De France: 1965-2007 . Dog Ear Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1-59858-608-4 , pp. 111 ( limited preview in Google Book search).