• My 1950 Stallard Zakopane has a double cable stop. What gears would have utilised this?

  • My La Variable is sporting a Cyclo Ace (similar to some Simplex, like the Selection Standard) has two cables (to push/pull the rear dérailleur), maybe those ones? (right-click, show Image to see if bigger)

  • Stallard Zakopane brazing:

    Another guess: This cable guide could be intended for use with a double right hand lever. There was once a theory that pressure on the chain caused by a powerful chain tensioning spring caused an unacceptable amount of 'friction' in the transmission. The answer was to provide manual chain tension with the extra lever so that when descending at speed on the small sprockets more tension could be applied to stop then chain coming off - when climbing on the bigger spockets the pressure would be realeased by slackening the tension cable. This arrangement was in addition to the conventional spring. I believe both Huret and Simplex tried this but, as you will have guessed, it wasn't very successful.

    I think the second RH lever was sometimes used for a cable controlled front changer, but I have a feeling this was only because the original purpose was a failure - surely it's easier to control the front changer from a LH lever.

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