anyone remember the "arabesque" Shimano 600 group?

My neighbor and I were comparing old bikes today and he was stimulated by
the sight of my 1978 600 group on the old Viscount. He reminded me of the
600 series done in the "Arabesque" fashion with all kind of nifty pretty
designs and curliques. I never had a bike with that, and forgotten about
it--but as soon as he brought it up...PING! how could I forget riding
behind such gorgeous brakes...

Anyone here ride or have memories of this gruppo? Early eighties I
believe?

My neighbor and I were comparing old bikes today and he was stimulated by
the sight of my 1978 600 group on the old Viscount. He reminded me of the
600 series done in the "Arabesque" fashion with all kind of nifty pretty
designs and curliques. I never had a bike with that, and forgotten about
it--but as soon as he brought it up...PING! how could I forget riding
behind such gorgeous brakes...

Anyone here ride or have memories of this gruppo? Early eighties I
believe?


I had a bike (1978 or 79?) fully equipped with this 600 stuff. IMO it's what
really got Shimano's foot in the door as a big-market parts provider. I still
have an old and very reliable pair of original 600 derailleurs on one bike
(been re-pulleyed more than once), a pair of shift levers on another, etc.
These parts are functional, reliable, lightweight, and stylish (FWIW). In
contrast, there are other (more expensive) derailleurs, etc., which I have long
since retired and boxed up, never to see the light of day again.

found one picture to jog your memory:

http://tinyurl.com/3efg3

In article ,
(TopCounsel) wrote:

My neighbor and I were comparing old bikes today and he was stimulated by
the sight of my 1978 600 group on the old Viscount. He reminded me of the
600 series done in the "Arabesque" fashion with all kind of nifty pretty
designs and curliques. I never had a bike with that, and forgotten about
it--but as soon as he brought it up...PING! how could I forget riding
behind such gorgeous brakes...

Anyone here ride or have memories of this gruppo? Early eighties I
believe?


I had a bike (1978 or 79?) fully equipped with this 600 stuff. IMO it's what
really got Shimano's foot in the door as a big-market parts provider. I
still
have an old and very reliable pair of original 600 derailleurs on one bike
(been re-pulleyed more than once), a pair of shift levers on another, etc.
These parts are functional, reliable, lightweight, and stylish (FWIW). In
contrast, there are other (more expensive) derailleurs, etc., which I have
long
since retired and boxed up, never to see the light of day again.

Dang, those Arabesque 600s aren't actually worth anything, are they?

I have a nearly complete drivetrain of that stuff, salvaged off a very
badly bent Carlton frame. The front derailleur is currently serving as a
chain guide on the BMX LX project:

http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/pix/bmxLXfder.jpg

Sorry, that picture is moderately large but not a very detailed look at
the derailleur.

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

On Mon, 31 May 2004 19:48:21 -0700, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Dang, those Arabesque 600s aren't actually worth anything, are they?

Not worth much at all--they've been overlooked IMHO--and there's so much
600 stuff out there--it's dirt cheap. The arabesque stuff seems to be a
little harder to find, that's what I'm reminiscing over. The frivolous
ornamentation of it is what I love--nothing that Shimano ever did came
close. It's more about bike jewelry than anything else. Cool thing about
it is that it's not TOO precious, its a pretty thing that you can actually
use on a vintage bike and it shifts pretty decently as well.

I just remember being a teen in the mid 80s and saving up to buy the
Shimano 600 rear derailleur to replace the crappy simplex on my Peugeot
and being flabbergasted once I installed it. It cost twenty something
bucks and we were quite poor so it was like this little jewel like thing
that I could actually afford--and it performed as advertised--shifted like
a dream compared to the horrible Simplex stuff I had..

This wasn't the Arabesque stuff mind you, I got the proletarian late 80s
version with silk screened logo.

Now I'm riding a pre-Arabesqe Shimao Titlist deraileur--quit elegant and
functional if you remember to shift with confidence. No slow sensitive
shifting for this one, it likes to be manhandled. Handles a modern 9
speed cassette with aplomb, thank you very much ...

"maxo" wrote in message
news
My neighbor and I were comparing old bikes today and he was stimulated by
the sight of my 1978 600 group on the old Viscount. He reminded me of the
600 series done in the "Arabesque" fashion with all kind of nifty pretty
designs and curliques. I never had a bike with that, and forgotten about
it--but as soon as he brought it up...PING! how could I forget riding
behind such gorgeous brakes...

Anyone here ride or have memories of this gruppo? Early eighties I
believe?


My road bike still has those shifters (deraileur is an 8 speed dura-ace.
Works perfectly of course, but I don't have indexing)!

cheers,
p