Shimano Tourney

Tourney is by far Shimano's best selling derailleur family. It started with Sky Lark in 1967 and and continues today with only minor changes.

When the world changes gear - it uses a Skylark. Shimano’s campaign of world domination began with this very model of derailleur. Disraeli Gears : Shimano, Disraeli Gears: Sky Lark

This single component timeline was necessitated while researching Lejeune, a French brand of popular, low-end mtbs all made with seemingly identical cheap derailleurs. Just as some derailleurs haven't changed for 50+ years, many modern mountain bikes look like throwbacks to the 80's with triple cranksets driven with Tourney derailleurs. 1)

The following timeline, using dates from Shimano catalogs & manuals, shows that by 2003 there were nine different Tourney models in production. In 2004 there was an introduction of three new Tourney models and many of these models continue through today.

2024 Kent Airflex
2024 Kent Airflex Kent International
TIG steel frame, side-pull? brakes (linear pull stated,)
grip shift, 3×7 gearing. 40 pounds. $249.99.
Shimano Tourney (TY-??) derailleurs.

Component1980s 1990s 2000s
7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0123
Rear Derailleur : Shimano Tourney shimano.jpg Tourney TY10 rd-ty10gs.jpg
40
Tourney TY20 rd-ty20gs.jpg
34
Tourney TY15 rd-ty15gs1.jpg Tourney TY15 rd-ty15gs.jpg
34
Tourney TY30-GS rd-ty30-gs.jpg
34
Tourney TY30-7 e618341093d555eec0d82b5e254d916f499753aaaad3e82deb04b3badab0e12c4a5a8a303d699cd81e55450f763f3a28b35f9aceaeaf0890f2692b768bf8bd7e5945165fc1b679a3badab96cb357c4d6
34
Tourney TY22-GS rd-ty22-gs.jpg
34
Tourney TY22-7 rd-ty22-7.jpg
34
Tourney TY05 rd-ty05-gs.jpg Tourney TY05
34
Tourney MR40 rd-ty40-gs.jpg
40
Tourney TY18 rd-ty18.jpg
?
Tourney TY23 rd-ty23.jpg
?
7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0123
Component1980s 1990s 2000s
1)
It's getting hard to find rigid MTBs nowadays, as the cheapest of today's MTBs all come with front shocks. See: Huffy, whose lineup includes disk-brakes & shocks for $96.45.