mtb-timeline

Shimano Tourney

From Skylark to Tourney, this is by far Shimano's best selling derailleur family.

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 section was necessitated after researching Lejeune, a French brand of popular, low-end mtbs all made with seemingly identical Tourney derailleurs over the years. Many modern mountain bikes look like throwbacks to the 80's, with well-optimized cheapness which all look the same. 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.

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 models and many of the 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.