From The Give Me A Break Dept.

While visiting a bike discussion group somewhere, I ran across a thread dealing with the Huret Alvit derailer (to use Sheldon Brown's spelling), in which it was universally agreed that it's a piece of junk and of course it should be replaced. One poster went so far as to say that the Huret Alvit shifted so badly that it caused him to give up biking for ten years. Gosh.

The discussion was of interest to me because my Trek 620 has an Alvit rear derailer. Guess what? It works fine, friction shifting and all. It never occurred to me that one derailer was so much better than another that anyone would bother to notice. I've used Simplexes, I've used Shimanos, I've used the Alvit. They work fine. I mean, if the chain moves from gear to gear, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing in between working and not working. So maybe I need to tweak the shifters a little more. So maybe the chain takes a little longer to get from one gear to another. Big deal.

When I'm riding in the Tour de France, I'm sure I'll care, as I'm powering up les Pyrénées, that I can't shift as quickly from my 3-tooth cog to my 4-tooth cog; but for powering up les Hills de Michigan, I don't care.