Vintage Shimano

Shimano started in 1921 as Shimano Iron Works making freewheels. Disraeli Gears traces its first derailleur to 1956 and its first parallelogram derailleur to 1965. Shimano launched Dura-Ace in 1973 to take on the racing market, and in 1984 Dura-Ace 7400 introduced SIS, the indexed shifting system that Disraeli Gears calls the first that really worked on multi-sprocket drivetrains. For buyers of vintage parts, two details matter most. First, before the 9-speed 7700 group of 1997, Dura-Ace rear derailleurs needed less cable per click than other Shimano road groups, so Dura-Ace and 600 or 105 indexed parts do not mix (Sheldon Brown). Second, most Shimano parts carry a two-letter date stamp. The first letter is the year (A for 1976, through to Z for 2001, then starting again at A for 2002) and the second is the month (A for January through L for December). Disraeli Gears' examples include "JI" for September 1985 and "NF" for June 1989.

10 references tracked.