Hello! It’s Friday! Isn’t that fantastic?
I may be a bike blogger, but I’m certainly not a journalist. Yet today is a special day for me, because I get to break the story of Rivendell’s new rear derailleur in a mainstream publication:
Not only that, but I’m even less of a photographer than I am a journalist–and yet there are my photos in that same mainstream publication!
I truly have arrived.
If you’re a Rivendell fan you know that they’ve been working on a low-normal derailleur for some time. (And if you’re not sure whether or not you’re a Rivendell fan, just look down and see whether or not you’re wearing sandals.) Here’s their explanation, straight from their packaging, which contains more useful information than my entire story:
RIVENDELL’S S!LVER OM-1, BETTER BECAUSE IT’S BACKWARDS
Most rear derailers are “high-normal” (HN) style: With no cable tension,
the spring pulls the pulleys to the HIGH gear (small cog). The spring in
a “low-normal” (LN) derailer pulls the chain to LOW gear. Our S!LVER OM-1
is this type. The OM means “opposite movement,” which works better,
linguistically, than “low-normal,” since “low-normal” isn’t normal. All front
derailers are LN, so when you add a LN rear, the left and right shifters
work in mirror image; the same direction or the same levers for high or low
gears. “Ghost shifts” and the rare broken or slipped cable default you to
lower gears, a blessing on steep hills or in the boonies. LN shifting takes
ten shifts to get used to, twenty shifts to love, and there isn’t one drawback.
Anyway, it’s a good day for me and a great day for the future of cable-actuated drivetrains.
Ride safe, thanks for reading, and may any friction you experience this weekend be the good kind.
Love,
–Tan Tenovo
