Vintage Dura Ace rear derailleur

vintage Dura Ace rear derailleur

I’m generally not into vintage parts. but this rear derailleur is pretty cool. It’s old school Dura Ace, pre-index. The unusual feature is the cage that can be opened to release the derailleur from the chain without tools (see pix after the jump). I have no desire to ever run friction shifters again, but I’d use this derailleur as the coolest single-speed chain tensioner ever. It’s a simple trick to run a shifter cable just from the barrel adjuster to the fixing bolt, without a shifter. Works great and you can even use the barrel adjuster to fine tube the chain on the single speed cog.

vintage Dura Ace rear derailleur

vintage Dura Ace rear derailleur

vintage Dura Ace rear derailleur

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