Not really sure where the market if as us retro bikers will just buy the originals (or would want 10/11sp for the modern kit). Anyone else really going to want some?
coming to Radavist soon!
Will come wrapped in a flannel shirt, packaged in a bag made of up-cycled yurt and comes with a free titanium dangle bong. The "i saw you coming" trio of Brick Lane Bikes, Blue Lug and Woods Cyclery are currently wondering just how much they can add on without tipping the scale all the way to WTF!
What i don't understand is why, in this golden age of cheap CNC/3D printing, you wouldn't offer a thumbie that comes with replaceable inserts that cover all popular speeds and mech combos. Just undo a top screw, remove an indent plate, insert another for your chosen gears and off you go. A nice little insert could be installed that gives a nice light, micro, ratchet feel for friction, too, if that is your bag. With all of the cross compatability that is possible, between mechs and cog spacing, there isn't a huge number of inserts required. There is no black magic with any of this as you will know if you have taken thumbies apart. It is just a lever pulling a cable and a spring, or ball, bumps in and out of notches/indents.
I imagine buyers of oddball things like thumbies are possibly also tuned into what mechs work with what cable pull and cog spacing i.e campag 9 shifters happily shift 9 cogs on a 10 speed sram/shimano cassette using any Sram mech that is marked Exact Actuation, with a ten speed chain, for example. Sram 10 speed happily shift 10 cogs on 11 speed shimano cassettes using 11 speed chains and 10 speed Sram exact actuation mechs and so on. There are all sorts of combos possible lower down the number of speeds, too. Once you start playing around you realise that alot of the manufacturers "no that will not work" is a load of old toffee! .
Moons ago; I had an old Shimano drop bar shifter(can't remember the speeds) working 7 cogs using an old russian copy of a campag rear mech. X3B or something like that. Might have only been 6 cogs at 8 speed spacing but it worked The limit was the amount the mech would travel between stops, but that could've been increased.
Could deffo see a market for my idea amongst people doing mega global tours as if you get stuck in Somewheronearthitan, with a broken mech, you have more options than just friction with another make of mech, if you carry a bag of inserts and find yourself at a random bike shop/some friendly locals house where there is a choice of random parts.
Anyone who reads this, produces it and makes a heap of money, please send some my way. Replaceable and re-buildable is also going to keep Captain Planet happy, too.
Thumbtastic
