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Equipment/Product Review (1984) Rear Derailleurs for Touring (Berto)

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Equipment/Product Review (1984) Rear Derailleurs for Touring (Berto)

Old 08-20-20, 09:10 AM
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Equipment/Product Review (1984) Rear Derailleurs for Touring (Berto)

Previous articles in this 3-article series were posted previously.
Racing derailleurs: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ing-berto.html
Mid-Range derailleurs: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...urs-berto.html















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Old 08-23-20, 10:30 AM
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Thanks for this. Interesting reading when combined with the piece on Disraeli Gears about “the curse of Duopar”. I can count on one hand the number of builds I’ve seen here with Berto’s supposed “best” touring derailleurs.
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Old 08-23-20, 12:25 PM
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Originally Posted by C9H13N
Thanks for this. Interesting reading when combined with the piece on Disraeli Gears about “the curse of Duopar”. I can count on one hand the number of builds I’ve seen here with Berto’s supposed “best” touring derailleurs.
You're welcome. And thank you for leading me Disraeli Gears, a site I've seen mentioned but never visited until now.
I spent some time there and will return to read more later.
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Old 08-23-20, 07:01 PM
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I recently assembled this bike and used a Duopar ECO that I had in my parts box. I had forgotten how well they shift. However they, at least the steel ones, are not lightweight!

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Old 08-23-20, 07:18 PM
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Originally Posted by daka
I recently assembled this bike and used a Duopar ECO that I had in my parts box. I had forgotten how well they shift. However they, at least the steel ones, are not lightweight!
Thanks. Any idea how much use your Duopar Eco had prior to your build?
I got the impression the Disraeli Gears piece felt part, if not all, of Berto's high rating for this RD was due to it being new when tested.
And that it didn't receive rough use on US roads by American riders probably helped reinforce that reputation here as opposed to the less favorable experience in Great Britain.
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Old 08-23-20, 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedofLite
Thanks. Any idea how much use your Duopar Eco had prior to your build?
I got the impression the Disraeli Gears piece felt part, if not all, of Berto's high rating for this RD was due to it being new when tested.
And that it didn't receive rough use on US roads by American riders probably helped reinforce that reputation here as opposed to the less favorable experience in Great Britain.
There are people here on the forum that have been using Duopars for 40 years without incident.

I got a Duopar Eco on my Trek 620- either mine was damaged before, or I damaged it shortly after getting the bike. I think the inner plate by the upper jockey got bent back and the chain worked between the pulley and the plate. Bending the plate further and scoring the pulley. Pastor Bob bent things back into shape for me and cleaned up the pulley- it worked fine for a little while, but I retired it because I didn't trust it. The same goes for my Duopar Titane- it was super smooth, but I had one hiccup with it (I *think* I stood on it while shifting and it pulled the spring out of the spring stop- allowing the cage to bend "backwards.") I retired it immediately because I didn't trust it- and this was when I was trying out bunches of different derailleurs- and, frankly, there's so many more derailleurs that shift as well, or better, without any of the reliability issues I've had with the Duopars I've owned.

Sachs/Huret Duopar by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

Sachs/Huret Duopar by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr
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Old 08-23-20, 08:39 PM
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Sorry about the giant sideways pictures.
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Old 08-23-20, 09:14 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedofLite
Thanks. Any idea how much use your Duopar Eco had prior to your build?
I got the impression the Disraeli Gears piece felt part, if not all, of Berto's high rating for this RD was due to it being new when tested.
And that it didn't receive rough use on US roads by American riders probably helped reinforce that reputation here as opposed to the less favorable experience in Great Britain.
That derailleur was given to me (along with a set of Suntour Bar end shifters) by a colleague at work who was upgrading his early Cannondale touring bike to index shifting. It is hard for me to know how many miles he had put on it before handing it off to me but I believe he cycled pretty regularly and I'm aware that it was used on a longer tour of several states in the Northwest and Canada.

I kind of doubt that Frank Berto's opinion of the Duopar was tilted much by the fact that the units he tested were new. It's my understanding that he favored Duopars on his personal bikes and he used to cycle commute from his home in Marin County across the Golden Gate bridge to San Francisco. I expect he put enough miles on his Duopars to know whether or not they wore/failed prematurely.
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