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?
>

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 <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (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, [email protected] 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" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> 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