From the early 1970's on Simplex seemed to introduce variations and new model front derailleurs on a monthly basis. I've never kept track of them but I can probably dig up 50 different models from the bike boom until the bitter end???
Simplex SLJ derailleurs were first introduced for the 1973 model year. They were the first all metal Simplex derailleurs since the early 1960's. Sadly they were too little, too late to salvage Simplex's sullied reputation for making "cheap plastic derailleurs"!
The original SLJ FDs only came with a front cable connection and were intended to be used with a clamped on cable guide and a short piece of cable housing in front of the seat tube. SLJ derailleurs started appearing in the US market on a few high end French bikes like Peugeot PX10s and PX60s plus Bertin C37 models about 1974-75.
Simplex cable stops for front clamping FDs.
AV 326 front derailleur page from the 1973 Simplex catalog (probably from velo-pages.com). The Simplex label was recessed into the cast or forged parallelogram arm on the early SLJ FDs. From the beginning they were available both silver and gold anodized.
The cages on the early versions had pointed "lips". Gold anodized AV 326.
Later ones were rounded like these below.
Front and rear cable clamps.
The weak link in these most of these derailleurs were the front clamp hinges. I've seen both front and rear clamp models break here.
Another problem was the threads in the control arms that the cable clamps screwed into were short and frequently stripped out. Solution was to place a thin nut in the rear.
One last thing, I've had several the cages on SLJ FDs break at the inside weld (from attempts to move the derailleur slightly by the cage).
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As far as capacity goes here's a standard SLJ FD with a 50-46-30T triple and a 13-30T FW. No problems.
They were unique designs that worked very well if only Lucien Juy hadn't been so cheap and made the derailleurs a little more robust in a few places.....
A Centime saved was a croissant earned!!!
verktyg