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Monday Mystery Pic

Written by Kristi Benedict Apr 21, 2014 7:01 a.m. ET

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Photo submitted by Andy Wiedrich, Warranty Manager at University Bicycles in Boulder, CO,

Kristi Benedict

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31 Comments

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matthew Sutcliffe

10 years ago

Chain / derailleur tensioner

Gerard

10 years ago

Old School type2??

Magnus

10 years ago

Whats so mysterious about about this?!? Weren’t you guys around when this “early version of Shadow+” was out?
They bent terribly easy!! 🙂

Andrew

10 years ago

Too easy! Bullet Bros chain tensioner.

okiefo

10 years ago

Ha! Bullet Bros. tensioner.

Auto_Xer

10 years ago

Jury rigged chain/deraileur tensioner?

David Pratt

10 years ago

The bullet brothers chain tensioner i had one

10 years ago

that was ment to increase the chain-tension back in the late nineties.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92611

mop

10 years ago

bullet bros chain tensioner. still got one in the spare box somewhere.

tom rinker

10 years ago

The original ‘clutch’ derailleur in a sense. Thanks for the picture, I have been looking for an image of one of these bad boys.

jen

10 years ago

bullet bros mtb chain tensioner

Wes

10 years ago

Goes perfectly with a Hite-Rite and some purple anodized brakes

The Conductor

10 years ago

Originally sold for downhill racers, even those with Blackburn racks. Those were the days…

Evant19d

10 years ago

1st generation rear derailleur clutch mechanism to reduce chain slap.

[SCI-FI]

10 years ago

Shimano Shadow Minus

Evolvo13

10 years ago

Bullet Bros. Chain tensioner. I used one successfully on my Fat Chance dual slalom bike back in the mid 90’s. It was the only thing on the bike not anodized turquoise! Goes great with grip shift and grunge music over the PA system.

Tim

10 years ago

Bullet bros chain tensioner. I still see the odd guy riding with one! Shadow+ is better

nurse_pete

10 years ago

Bullet Brothers chain tensioner….94 or 95…I had one…and didn’t they buy a helicopter with the money that made off this stuff?

@Evolvo13….only goes good with the Gripshift if you also have a bassworm or replaced the spring in the Shimano rear derailleur so it worked with the SRT-800 Gripshift…stupid Shimano.

Ryan

10 years ago

Wow. That was something I came up with in 94. I even had a two piece one that was shorter. It would have been nice if they gave me some cash for taking my idea.

david

10 years ago

I don’t see anything weird other than a badly-kinked piece of cable housing. (And my tandem still has a bassworm – makes avid disc brakes work a LOT better with the long cable)

nurse_pete

10 years ago

@david…in all my time spinning wrenches, I’ve never heard of that one…that is brilliant!

Topmounter

10 years ago

That’s what we used before derailleurs had “clutches”.

david

10 years ago

@nurse_pete – I’ve been keeping a couple of bassworms in my spare parts box for a LONG time to take care of bad cable routing or poor return-spring tension. They’re great. I’ve got some spare tubing to use when they eventually die, too.

Greg

10 years ago

Apparently it is a Bullet Brothers chain tensioner.

DeeEight

10 years ago

Bullet Brothers chain tensioner, I happen to have one on ebay right now.

mechanic

10 years ago

Yeah, that one is easy. I have one on a bike right now; the pre-clutch clutch.

Scott Feldman-Peabody

10 years ago

It was part of the Tyson system with a couple of rollers around a single chainring. Of course, when the license ran out it was simply called the Mr Dream system.

Eric

10 years ago

I made them by my self

Troy

10 years ago

I had one of those on my proflex.

spokejunky

10 years ago

A spring for the screen door. I win.

TJ Platt

9 years ago

Andy, I think Hossaflook still has one of these hanging in his garage. It was a great idea, think about it, all new rear derailleurs have have a “locking” mechanism in them now to prevent chain-slap.