rear derailleur suggestion
 

i'm looking for suggestions for a vintage (ish) european brand rear derailleur that will handle 52x42 chainrings and 14-30t 5 speed freewheel combo for my 73 Italvega build. i installed the Soma long cage mod on a campy NR, but it looks weird to me... although to be honest i don't have the 27" rear wheel back from the LBS to install on the frame and see it mocked up. it just seems like the cage is long enough to be a kickstand! i have hangers for both campy and huret to go on the stamped dropout. i don't want shimano or suntour for this bike.

Lots of Huret long-cage options that will work well. A long-cage Jubile is super rare and super sweet, but a Duopar would be cool and easier to find. Lots of info here: Huret derailleurs

Campy Gran Turismo!

Just install it for a few weeks and you'll find yourself warming up to the Soma long cage. Plus, it will come in handy in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

Seriously, though, if you can find a claw hanger with a long enough drop, you might be able to get the NR to work with a 14-30. It sounds to me like you should bite the bullet and consider a triple, though.

Is there any way you can fit a smaller chainring, like a 38? Not sure what BCD you're working with.

You can get a similar low gear with the 38 using a 26- or 28-tooth large cog in back. I've read that the practical limit for a short cage Nuovo Record is 26, but that folks can get it to work with a 28 without too much fiddling. (I couldn't get mine to work with a 28, but I did not try very hard.)

Suntour long cage.

Just for a weirdness factor, would those long cage sides I've seen fitted to NR's also fit a Galli?

i have a TA specialites crankset that is real purdy with (several hours of elbow time invested) earmarked for this bike, so 52/42 is what i'm working with, and my bottom bracket is already in my parts bin for this one, so don't want to invest in more parts for a triple. i have a campy rally but that is destined for a '60 paramount that is getting a triple. i looked on disreali gears this morning and almost for a fleeting moment considered the tourismo but i'm not that desperate yet.

I think the Huret Duopar shifts well and will easily handle that range (and more) but the steel one is heavy and many folks just can't get used to the looks of the thing. A Huret Luxe Touring will shift onto a 30 tooth but have a reputation for being easy to bend. Plus you need to use an older Huret shifter with the larger drum diameter and I believe all of those are steel and consequently pretty hefty. A Simplex (preferably a metal one) should handle that range without complaint.

i might consider a jubilee long cage if i could find one that didn't require a second mortgage on the house! or even a campy chorus long cage, but those are rare to find so far as well.

If you don't like the look of the long-cage NR, you can find yourself a v1a/v2b Campy Rally rder. They're Campy, and real purty.

Sachs-Huret New Success (Sachs-Huret New Success derailleur (47.1D))

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0391335a9a.jpg

very nice! thank you.

If you're willing to stretch the "ish" in your vintage-ish, an 8/9-speed Racing T derailleur would have excellent functionality, looks pretty nice, and are often available at a decent price.

https://live.staticflickr.com/421/31...15b33912_c.jpg

The problem then becomes taking up the slack between the big and the small rings. Nuovo Record can easily accommodate a 10 tooth chainring difference, but anything more is difficult (given a wide freewheel cluster like 14-28t).

have you ever just totally changed your mind about the entire package for a build? i went down to the dungeon last night to look through all my parts bins, and found a velo orange 46/30 crankset i bought last year but never used. got on the internet afterwards and somehow ended up looking over sunxcd stuff in my travels. so now i'm switching to what i said i wasn't doing... suntour pro compe 14x28, sunxcd rear derailleur, shiny microshift front to deal with the range of shifting, and a velo orange grand cru crankset. i like curvy polished art deco and sometimes steampunk looks. besides, the all europe derailleur options were adding up to be more that i wanted to fork out.

thanks everyone for your suggestions. don

likely no one else has ever done that. yer so weird...lol

Campy Rally cage plates bolt right onto a NR derailleur ,look great, and will handle a 32T

i know... i'm just so ashamed of myself! but it's nothing that beer can't rectify.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0dac42fc87.jpg

Yep, you’re right... I haven’t used anything but a long cage for my builds, so I forget the delicate calculus of running up to the limit of (or exceeding) capacity.

I applaud this decision...

you know, hops is extremely medicinal :)

Sounds super functionable and not bad looking, too.