Originally Posted by
abdon
Suntour managed to hold on for more than just a few years. They held the slanted parallelogram patent for 20 years, all while campy kept saying that it was not significant enough to matter to anybody and yet copied it the second the parent expired. Well after that their vgt was the standard first for touring derailleurs and once it was born for mountain bikes. To this day their clicky friction shifters are on par with anything modern being produced.
The world became too fast and complicated for a smaller company to exist. It was literally grow or die.
Yes, patents are for 20 years. But that patent didn't have much impact until the middle/late 70s. Expired in 84 and pretty much so did Suntour.
That is what I meant by a few years. Even though Tullio's patents expired, he still dominated long after expiration.