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
Kent International
TIG steel frame, side-pull? brakes (linear pull stated,)
grip shift, 3×7 gearing. 40 pounds. $249.99.
Shimano Tourney (TY-??) derailleurs.
| Component | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | |||||||||||||||
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
Rear Derailleur : Shimano Tourney  | Tourney TY10  | |||||||||||||||||
| 40 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY20  | ||||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY15  | Tourney TY15  | |||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY30-GS  |
||||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY30-7  |
||||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY22-GS  |
||||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY22-7  |
||||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY05  | Tourney TY05  | |||||||||||||||||
| 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney MR40  | ||||||||||||||||||
| 40 | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY18  | ||||||||||||||||||
| ? | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourney TY23  | ||||||||||||||||||
| ? | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Component | 1980s | 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.