Experiments with Rapid Rise derailleur

[Dogtrousers]

My first ever derailleur was like this. It was a Suntour Skitter which was "low normal". It was already pretty old and beaten up when I got it in the mid 70s. It was even more beaten up when I failed to adjust the lo stop correctly and put it into my spokes.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It wasn't about solving problems. It was an alternative. And to my mind a far more intuitive and better system. Each to their own of course.

Of course.... like an anti-clockwise clock is an alternative and American track cycles with their chainrings on the left are an alternative and car gear sticks with top left being 4th is an alternative.

 

[figbat]

My STX-RC shifters go up three gears with one full push of the lever. I thought that was sort of standard with indexed gears?

To bigger cogs, yes. I was asking if these multi-shifted to smaller cogs.

 

[Drago]

Companies with a technical product, and bicycle and components manufacturers are suckers for this, thrive by attempting to create a new niche (or reviving a forgotten one) and exploiting it before anyone else, thus gaining market dominance. It doesn't have to bring a tangible benefit, although they'll often make largely unsubstantiated claims that it will.

Rapid Rise was was but one such effort.

 

[Bristolian]

One of my early bikes had Benelux gears, which were spring loaded to the biggest sprocket. Never ran smoothly.

My first derailleur bike had Benelux gears too with friction shifters. I never had a problem with shifting except when the friction washer in the shifter stopped doing its job and I had to ride with my right hand constantly holding the shifter to stop it changing into the lowest gear. It made for "exciting" races down to the school sports fields, which were a couple of miles from the school itself

 

[Dogtrousers]

Here's an advantage.

With friction shifters and a double chainset the advantage of low-normal is that both levers work in the same direction. You push each of them back to change to a higher gear and forward for a lower gear.

With standard high-normal derailleurs you push the front (left) lever back for a higher gear, and the rear (right lever) back for a lower gear. That's a massive disadvantage because ... er ... well ... it's just wrong isn't it? It's untidy.

 

[Ajax Bay]

With friction shifters and a double chainset the advantage of low-normal is that both levers work in the same direction. You push each of them back to change to a higher gear and forward for a lower gear.

But who rides using a rear friction shift bar lever (not bar end) nowadays: a tiny proportion. And I'll bet NONE with a RapidRise RD.
Is there a specific word for left/right confusion/discrimination (like dyslexia for words/speeling)?
Suffering 'slightly' from this (mercifully) got me out of carrying the Union Flag in front of Westminster Abbey for Mountbatten's funeral bitd.

 

[Dogtrousers]

But who rides using a rear friction shift bar lever (not bar end) nowadays: a tiny proportion. And I'll bet NONE with a RapidRise RD.
Is there a specific word for left/right confusion/discrimination (like dyslexia for words/speeling)?
Suffering 'slightly' from this (mercifully) got me out of carrying the Union Flag in front of Westminster Abbey for Mountbatten's funeral bitd.

True, it's not exactly a big advantage. It is admittedly somewhat obscure. Affected population: One teenager in the 1970s.

As noted above my first experience of a derailleur was low normal. When I broke this and replaced it with an ordinary Huret derailleur it caused me a great deal of distress. Or at least some mild confusion. It was sufficient for the mental scarring to last nearly 50 years.

 

[All uphill]

Well it's fitted to my Temple bike, and it works. I'm not yet mentally scarred by it, either.

If Rapid Rise was a marketing scam it reached me about 25 years to late to do Shimano any good.

Maybe I'll discover gravel bikes in 2039.

 

[mickle]

I don't understand why Grant Petersen is so enamoured of the RR 'derailer'. Its an answer to a question that no-one was asking. Their long awaited Silver rear mech is RR.

 

[All uphill]

Just ridden 20 hilly kms with the RR derailleur.

Seemed OK; I'm neither enamoured nor appalled. The marginally quicker downchanges were good. It will stay on the Temple for now.