# SLJ5500 vs SLJ6600



## LouB (Nov 1, 2017)

I have the former- SLJ5500 long cage on my tourer with a triple.  Would I notice a difference if I switched to a 
SLJ6600 long cage?  and if so, what might that be.  The current SLJ5500 works ok, though its finiky, doesnot like to be run backwards and just generally touchy.  Trying to figure if the 6600 LC would be an improvement and--if the juice is worth the squeeze.
Lou


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 1, 2017)

Comparing Disreli Gears and Velobase description of the two, both copy the Shimano Crane geometry

I don't think there's any difference in the function, the later RD trying to make the market on looks and "aero" designation
http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Simplex_Prestige_Super_LJ_derailleur_SLJ6600.html

The correct answer is from 1976




the geometry being used by Everyone today.


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## petritl (Nov 2, 2017)

Lou, I have a nice long cage Suntour derailleur you can try and available for purchase if you like it.


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## petritl (Nov 2, 2017)

......


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 2, 2017)

I'm surprised the French flag doesn't have a motto

_Pourquoi achetez-vous notre merde, ça ne marche pas_


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## LouB (Nov 2, 2017)

Thanks Ron.  You are correct.  The Sutours have worked flawlessly for me, but I just can't put one on this bike.  I have to stick to the French (merde might be a bit strong for me) products.  Worse comes to worse, I'll continue to crunch, grind and slip my way from sprocket to sprocket.


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 3, 2017)

Wanna impress me Stevie, trade your P/U for a Citroen
(allusion to Eddie Murphy's only good joke)*

http://www.ironweedbp.com/ironweed-blog/vintage-touring-derailleurs

while you gotta love Art Deco graphics, why live with a band-aid.



Maybe you should be hunting for a long-cage Jubilee (and be prepared to pay)

But even the French figured this out.  From 1971 forward, good French bikes had either Campy, Huret Jubilee, or SunTour, and the last worked best (Raleigh finally caught up with this choice in 1977)

http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2010/09/making-ordinary-vintage-roadbike.html
_In the '70s, SunTour made some of the best shifting derailleurs ever made. Frank Berto tested several touring RDs and recalls the results in The Dancing Chain. The $9 SunTour V GT and slightly more expensive V GT Luxe along with the SunTour Cyclone GT outshifted by a wide margin the far more spendy and trendy Campagnolo Rally. The V GT series could handle a 34t rear cog and had a total capacity of 38T. If SunTour had made better business decisions, it might have been Shimano that the sun set on.

The price may have been firmly low end. The performance wasn't. (Despite what they say at J. Peterman...err, Rivendell, the SunTour bar cons are still the best ever made, although you might get an argument from the Simplex aficionados.)
_
The last choice is make the drivetrain traditional rando - Narrow your freewheel (14-24t), which also lets you shorten your chain, and use that triple sequentially. (Or go really traditional rando with a wide double - e.g. 46/30T - narrow freewheel, short-cage RD).  Of course use a gear calculator for something like this.

Chain length may be something to look at.  On big-big (not that you would ride this combo), your derailleur cage should be tilting forward at 45-degrees (like the simplex graphic).

*Eddie is driving downtown with Stevie Wonder riding shotgun.  
Stevie is talking about all his recent Grammy awards (done with the classic head bob).  
"Wanna impress me Stevie, drive the car."


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## dnc1 (Nov 4, 2017)

In my humble opinion, the 2CV is one of the loveliest, craziest vehicles ever made! Just pips the classic DS for me. I've owned several, don't knock it till you've tried it! Lol.


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 4, 2017)

to each his own - this was mine, 170,000 mi with my hair on fire




The DeDion rear end saved our lives one day. 
We were blasting twisty bits through the hill country on our way to see a friend.
On the outside of a sweeper, a car coming the other way was overcooked and understeering to take over our lane. Automatically dialed the outside wheels off the pavement, and they dribbled in the downhill rough while the inside wheels held the corner. (My wife could only see air.) Thought about it afterwards (we just looked at each other and drove on), but no other rear suspension would have done that without weight transfer to the outside rear wheel.


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## dnc1 (Nov 4, 2017)

Alfa's are pretty cool too!


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 4, 2017)

as long as you don't use them in the same sentence with Citroen
The original context of course was Lou P/U





My buddy had a '69 Cooper S with the hydrolastic suspension right off a Citroen.
It was a maintenance bugaboo, and didn't work near as well as the rubber cone suspension on his '74 Leyland Special.

My other buddy's GMC motor home has a rear-couple hydrolastic setup and there's an aftermarket industry to replace these things.  Whoever thought of putting bags of hydraulic fluid on suspensions - oh, it was Citroen.  A suspension designed only for speed-bumps.  It adds nasty unsprung weight, detracts from handling, and leaks.


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## dnc1 (Nov 6, 2017)

You're not wrong about that suspension! I just love their wilful, oddball quirkiness / difference. Although there aren't many vehicles where you can remove any one of the road wheels and keep driving a la DS.
The 2CV (at what passes for full speed) is an unforgettable experience for the driver; terrifying for passengers though!


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## LouB (Nov 13, 2017)

Gonna give a Huret long cage a try--either Jubilee or Allvit or Duopar.  Got to be "froggy." and work well.  I'm praying those are not mutually exclusive!


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## bulldog1935 (Nov 13, 2017)

the operative word here is long-cage, which you need for the triple.  There were a lot of bad long-cage derailleurs before and after the SunTour VGT, and no one could copy the SunTour patent before a 1983 introduction.
Campagnolo held off the longest, trying strange mechanisms (Croce d'Aune and Triomphe, e.g.) to achieve the same result, and finally gave in, copying SunTour (across the board) with the Chorus introduction in 1988.


 



The French were the first to adopt SunTour VGT on high-quality production bikes, beginning in 1971 - Raleigh used Allvit until 1977, when they were Smart Enough to switch to SunTour, just like the French.  This thing is never on.
1971 Motobecane catalog, if you read the models from left to right, you're going from bargain-basement to Reynolds/Campagnolo.



Campagnolo didn't work better, it was simply prestige.
I remember 1976 (well, ok, some of it), anyone with a brain replaced their Campy RD with a Cyclone.  The new prestige here was I'm smarter than the fasionistas.  

If you can work out a compact double, you can get by with a short-cage RD, and a shorter chain.


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