sd5782 

I am in the long process of restoring and redoing a 73 Schwinn Super Sport for my son. I have all the nice stock parts but I just can't bring myself to put the Schwinn GT200 on it. I want all stock on it and have been really planning on the Huret, and read a few positives about a properly set up and lubed one. I cleaned this one up a bit and noticed a bent pivot axle/screw at the top pulley. I took it out and bent it back pretty straight while thinking how that was a pretty wimpy item concerning its locational importance and stress. Back together it went, and upon observation, the pulley cage is not on the same plain as the hanger bolt. I guess more bending would be in order.


Schwinn approved Huret GT200

I just don't think I can bring myself to put this on this bike, even though the goal is a stocker for him and I have most of the parts in very nice condition, and have touched up the paint a bit. Marks in this pic will be under the FD.



crank from 72

I think in the end I will just put my old Suntour V-GT on it so as to not saddle him with problems.

dddd

Yeah, the Suntour will be sturdier, and will shift better over such a wide freewheel range ((especially if modern chain is used)).

I don't usually mess with a messed-up Allvit, since I can find a good one so easily at just about any swap-meet or co-op type of place (and I already have a box full of them).

The Supersport's long cage Allvit featured the longer cage AND a different claw mount bracket which positioned the derailer body more rearward, so with modern chain there will be quite a large, flexible chain gap between the pulley and freewheel when using the smaller cogs (again, especially if modern chain is used).

I only ride with modern chain and with a 13-28t 6s freewheel on my Supersport, so I used the standard Allvit and just modified the linkage to swing across six cogs.

dddd

If I am seeing your photo correctly so early in the morning, the linkage appears to have come from the factory with the sort of notch (see mine with Dremel-cut notch marked in red) meant to increase the derailer's outward travel.
I think this is the first time I have seen this on any variant of the Allvit, though I am aware that "Schwinn Approved" components had many modifications not touted in Schwinn's (or obviously Huret's!) literature.

Not seeing the notch on this later version's linkage either, though on this one it was the swaged head of the non-removable cage-pivot shaft that I had to really use the Dremel on to achieve 6s throw.
Also notice here the single CAST main para arm and wrap-style full chain guiding cage, meant to preclude the sort of loss-of-chain-control stress and strain (flexing) that probably caused yours to become bent:

sd5782 

You are correct that the linkage is relieved just as yours is. I got 3 bikes at the co-op so this RD came from one of them so I don’t know the history. Two were from 73 and one a 72. I replaced the stock RD on my 73 SS shortly after I bought it in 75. It has been shifting 6 speed Suntours for decades. Currently that bike has a compact double in front with a VXs rear DR.

I may look at the co-op to see if they have a nice Huret, but I may not want to subject my son to that. He may also not be as attentive as we are. I was planning on the stock 14-32 five speed freewheel and I have a little used, I think, stock Sedis chain from one of those. Trying for as close to stock as I can get.

Next up is a truing stand for Christmas to learn about wheel truing, and a search for bar tape.

oneclick 

And here I was thinking that by "bashing" you all meant "having a moan about" - but no, it's just another term for monkeying about with stuff to make it work (sometimes/better).

As you were, then.

TiHabanero

I had a 75 Super Sport for several decades with the original drive train on it. Toured all over the Midwest during that time and even started to "learn" racing on it. Never gave me any trouble. Don't understand the gripes people have with it. Mine was perfect to the end.

sd5782 

I was gently bashing so as not to offend our Francophiles. 95% of what I have read, and 100% of my very limited experience is negative. However, I am a slight bit more experienced mechanically now in my older years. With wanting a totally stock build I was keeping an open mind to the Huret with the advice of others of proper setup and care. I wouldn’t pay big bucks for one, but if I find a nice Schwinn approved Huret in top condition, I may try it again. Those old Schwinns were not known for the gentle care and fastidious maintenance of the owners, so that certainly let to lots of early failures. I’m keeping an open mind here.

3alarmer 

...when it originally appeared, back in 1958, the Allvit was very forward looking. Huret Allvit derailleur (1st style)
But 1958 was a long time ago, and just because Schwinn used a lot of them, over too long a time period, we tend to forget that time marches on.

If I had a Suntour Vx rear derailleur, and I was giving this bike to someone not all that mechanically sophisticated, I'd use it.
It's not that hard to overshift the derailleur in your picture into the spokes of the rear wheel, if it gets bent in a fall or drop.

Wildwood 

Winter season for many riders.
Time of year to analyze componentry.
I learn a lot that gets applied to Wrenching and General Knowledge.


My Huret Svelto is not getting mounted yet, but the Sachs/Huret Rival has worked well for many years.

bikemig 

I was kinda, sorta thinking of installing an allvit on a bike I'm building up just because it's period correct. I haven't played with one in a long time but I always did think they were kind of crummy. Plus the prices on the ebay for huret allvits is just nuts.

Glennfordx4

That's Crazy, I had no idea they were asking that much for these anchors, looking at sold items it seems $20 to $25 seems to be what they are selling at ,though a few NOS ones sold for crazy money.
When I am building up old Schwinn's that are going to be ridden I always go Suntour cause they just work so much better. I still have two or three NOS Alivit's in my bins and used ones that I don't think I would ever use.

Glenn

no67el

I have a Huret Challenger on a 1976 Raleigh Super Course MkII, and it's been nothing short of reliable, smooth and accurate--- a very pleasant surprise, given its reputation as a kind of "meh" derailleur. I agree that a Suntour Vx would be the way to go for someone who is likely to give the derailleur a hard life, but I wouldn't hesitate to ride a Huret Challenger on another bike of mine.

daka

I also give a thumbs-up to the Huret Challenger and its lighter cousin the Success as to how well they function. Aesthetically, they have a kind of half-life: they look okay until you lose/break the plastic insert in the upper knuckle and then the adhesive backed "Huret" label loses its stickiness and falls off.

John E

Great comments. The Huret Allvit was a huge improvement over the outdated Simplex derailleurs that [dis]graced the original Varsinentals in 1960. There is a great story about Schwinn parts manager Keith Kingbay, the father of the Varsinentals, getting the Huret brothers drunk over a steak dinner in Chicago, to where they agreed to meet Lucien "Simplex" Juy's price. (The difference had been $1.27 in 1961 dollars.)

My first road bike, a low-end 1962 Bianchi Corsa, routinely snapped gearshift cables, partly because of my own inexperience, but also because of the high spring tension and low cable pull leverage of the Huret Allvit. I upgraded to an American Eagle Semi-Pro (Nishiki Competition) in 1971, and it has been SunTour and Campagnolo for me all the way ever since, with an occasional Shimano unit.

3alarmer 

.
...I just looked in Frank Berto's book on derailleur history. He gives a rough estimate of 5 million Allvit derailleurs produced between 1958 and 1983. So there must be plenty of them bouncing around out there somewhere. New REcord Campagnolo rears are selling for 40-50 bucks on ebay in pretty decent shape. But generally, all the rear derailleurs I see on ebay seem to suffer from the ebay price bump.

daka

I had an American Eagle Semi-Pro for about 10 days in 1970 - that is how long it took to get stolen. My first bike with an alloy cotterless crankset, Suntour derailleurs and first acquaintance with half-step gearing. I had locked it with a chain and padlock to a lampost outside the public library in the evening where I was doing homework and when I returned it was gone. Since the police station was adjacent to the library it was a very short walk to report the theft. The officer came outside and found little shards of metal where the bike had been parked. He speculated that it was Stanford students that had access to liquid nitrogen and that they "froze" a link of chain (taking it below its ductile/brittle transition) and then shattered it with a blow from a hammer. Being only 17 at the time, I had no idea if this was plausible or not but it made a good story to tell my friends.

But had I locked up a bike with a Huret Allvit derailleur I suspect that I would have found it still been chained up to that lampost when I finished my homework.