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This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- tech:derail [2022/10/27 06:23] – mtbtimeline
+++ tech:derail [2025/11/11 11:32] (current) – mtbtimeline
@@ Line 376: / Line 376: @@
   * more?
 </div>
+<div column 50% #sprockets>
+----
+===== Gearing Timeline =====
+One quick way to date a bike is to count the sprockets on the rear hub, which is usually between five and thirteen.
+The first mountain bikes started with five or six speeds on their freewheels paired with a front double or triple
+((The 1977 Breezer and 1978 Ritchey used 6 speed freewheels, while the 1978 Cunningham and 1978 Pro Cruiser used 5 speed freewheels.)).  Six speed freewheels have been around since about 1962 ((The 1963 Simplex catalog advertized a 6 speed Prestige 532 derailleur, which was introduced in 1962.)).  MTB gearing isn't so much about the number of gears but gear range, especially the low gearing needed to reach the top of the hill.
+Wide gearing became available with long caged derailleurs introduced in the early 70's ((One of the first long cage deraieurs was 1970 Campagnolo Gran Turismo.  Frank Berto states that the Gran Turismo was "arguably the worst rear derailleur to carry Campagnolo's logo. [[https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/campagnolo_gran_turismo_2270_1st_style_derailleur.html|disraeligears]], and then the 1972 SunTour V, both of which had chain capacities of 36 teeth.))
+((Campagnolo, reluctant to get mud on their polished silver, produced the Record O.R. (Off-Road) deraiileur with a 32 max sprocket and a 36 overall capacity, and shipped a 20x32x42 front and a 12-32 rear requiring a 42 tooth capacity, presumably with a ton of chain slap.  They withdrew completely from off-road derailleurs until the 2021 Ekar gravel groupset, with a 38 front and a 10-44 rear.  Gravel is acceptibly cleaner and more gentemenly than dirt.  For example, in 2004, Campy's Centaur long cage "touring" derailleur had a impressive capacity of 39 teeth, but with a max rear sprocket of 29 with a low triple front of 30 - not mountain bike gearing.))
+After 1987, when index shifting became popular with mountain shifters((For example, see Shimano's XT M730 in 1987, or SunTours 1987 XC 9000, both of which were six speed only index systems.)), then the shifter/derailleur pair limited how many sprockets could be installed.
+For simplicity's sake, only mountain gearing and derailleur capacities will be considered in the following chart((Mountain derailleur := high max sprocket capacity (>=30) and overall chainwrap (>= 38) and low gearing.  And marketed as being for off-road use.)).
+resources:
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shimano_groupsets]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRAM_Corporation]]
+  * [[https://www.sram.com/en/company/about/history]]
+  * [[https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/sram_derailleurs.html]]
+</div>
+<div column 45%>
+{{cass.jpg?300|cassettes}}
+\\
+A selection of 8/9/10/11/12 Speed 11-40/42/50T cassettes from [[https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803698663329.html|aliexpress]].
+</div>
+|< 100% 16% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%>|
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+| @#F0F0F0:**<fs x-large>Component</fs>**| @#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**1980s**</fs> ||||| @#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**1990s**</fs> ||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2000s**</fs>||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2010s**</fs>||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2020s**</fs>|||||||
+|       :::                     | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** |
+| @#F0F0F0:**Rear Derailleur : Suntour** {{components:suntour.jpg?0x90}}| **6 speeds** ||| **7 speeds** ||| **8 speeds** ||||| @#F0F0F0: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
+| @#F0F0F0:**Rear Derailleur : Shimano** {{components:shimano.jpg?0x90}}| **6 speeds** |||| **7 speeds** ||| **8 speeds** ||||||| **9 speeds** ||||||||||| **10 speeds** |||| **11 speeds** |||| **12 speeds** |||||||||
+| @#F0F0F0:**Rear Derailleur : Campagnolo** {{components:campy.jpg?0x90}}| @#F0F0F0: || **7 speeds** ||| **8 speeds** |||||| @#F0F0F0: ||||||||||||||||||||||||| **13 speeds ** ||||||
+| @#F0F0F0:**Rear Derailleur : SRAM** {{sram.png?0x70}}| @#F0F0F0: |||||||||| **8 speeds** ||||| **9 speeds** |||||||||| **10 speeds ** || ** 11 speeds** |||| ** 12 speeds** |||||||||||
+|       :::                     | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** | @#F0F0F0:**7** | @#F0F0F0:**8** | @#F0F0F0:**9** | @#F0F0F0:**0** | @#F0F0F0:**1** | @#F0F0F0:**2** | @#F0F0F0:**3** | @#F0F0F0:**4** | @#F0F0F0:**5** | @#F0F0F0:**6** |
+| @#F0F0F0:**<fs x-large>Component</fs>**| @#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**1980s**</fs> ||||| @#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**1990s**</fs> ||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2000s**</fs>||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2010s**</fs>||||||||||@#F0F0F0:<fs x-large>**2020s**</fs>|||||||