Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
Despite the name of this gear the catalogue shows a non-massed start setup for the bicycle. Overhill also made a two-speed auto changer that worked via back-pedalling. Overhill gears are mentioned in the “Dancing Chain” by Frank Berto, and there is also an illustration in the Japanese “The Data Book”.
The Massed Start gear is a single wire type fork/spring arm derailleur, with the spring arm being fabricated using approx. 3/16″ diameter spring wire, and adjustable sprockets, the upper one having its’ own separate
spring tensioner. Supposedly the use of spring wire made it next to impossible to damage the arm. As I recall we used to call this type of derailleur a grass cutter. The sprockets on the spring arm look very similar to those used on Cyclo Standard or Ace.
The Massed Start gear is a single wire type fork/spring arm derailleur, with the spring arm being fabricated using approx. 3/16″ diameter spring wire, and adjustable sprockets, the upper one having its’ own separate
spring tensioner. Supposedly the use of spring wire made it next to impossible to damage the arm. As I recall we used to call this type of derailleur a grass cutter. The sprockets on the spring arm look very similar to those used on Cyclo Standard or Ace.