Fir Gemini front derailleur - beautiful and rare

[ibbz]

FiR Gemini Braze-On Front Derailleur for Road Bikes Vintage, NOS, Rare | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for FiR Gemini Braze-On Front Derailleur for Road Bikes Vintage, NOS, Rare at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[ferrus]

The Gemini rear is one of the rarest most sought after mech’s for collectors. It took me over 20 years to find one.
Gemini was an absolutely beautiful groupset apparently first released in ‘89. I suspect Campag made the DT shifters for FiR (and the chainset), but no one can be sure who actually made the mech’s as they’re quite different to anything Campag had ever produced.
Superb quality stuff.

 

[ibbz]

The Gemini rear is one of the rarest most sought after mech’s for collectors. It took me over 20 years to find one.
Gemini was an absolutely beautiful groupset released in ‘93. Campag definitely made the DT shifters for FiR (and the chainset), but no one can be sure who actually made the mech’s as they’re quite different to anything Campag had ever produced.
Superb quality stuff.

Thank you
I had been reading about it after talking to @kingoffootball about Italian derailleurs
That rear mech in this link is sublime isn’t it?

FiR Gemini (2nd style) derailleur

This FiR Gemini derailleur has a mythical aura. It is an object that derailleur collectors have often discussed over the years, but it is hard to grasp in any kind of real terms. You generally only see one example - and it is this very one. It appears on Velobase and any number of blogs and web...

www.disraeligears.co.uk

 

[ferrus]

Fascinating hey! They are sublime - the shaping of the cage is lovely.
I’m unsure about the mech’s provenance; there‘s so many features unlike Campag but they almost certainly made the down tube shifters which are nearly identical to period Record. It’s generally accepted that they made the chainset too. Brakes appear to be Modolo’s I think.

Incidentally the Disraeli gears chap is wrong about the mech on Velobase as those ones are mine, I bought them from the seller who posted the pic’s. There was only the one version of the Gemini rear mech as well I believe.

 

[kingoffootball]

I need this

 

[ibbz]

Fascinating hey! They are sublime - the shaping of the cage is lovely.
I’m unsure about the mech’s provenance; there‘s so many features unlike Campag but they almost certainly made the down tube shifters which are nearly identical to period Record. It’s generally accepted that they made the chainset too. Brakes appear to be Modolo’s I think.

Incidentally the Disraeli gears chap is wrong about the mech on Velobase as those ones are mine, I bought them from the seller who posted the pic’s. There was only the one version of the Gemini rear mech as well I believe.

That is so interesting! And learn something new every day - and also want something more every day!!
Haha!
Curious to see any photos of your - have you fitted it?
What makes people doubt that Fir made them themselves ?

 

[ferrus]

FiR had outsourced the manufacture of parts including mech’s to other brands before and there was speculation about Campag’s involvement right from the group’s release (the chainset’s are uncannily Campag-esque).
I was completely sceptical until I saw the gear shifters which looked just like Record apart from the adjustment screw caps. But even if Campag made the shifters it doesn’t necessarily mean they made the mech’s - they made the Ergo shifters for Sachs New success, but not the mech’s for instance..

Yep I’ve fitted the rear to a GT Edge Ti project. There’s no way I can justify using it really as it’s too precious. But… I couldn’t resist buying another one a couple of months ago!! - so it might stay on for a ride up the road and back. Would be good to see how well it works.

One day I’ll get it together and post some pics of the whole mech collection, but I’m a total tech’ idiot so prob too clueless to manage it!

 

[ibbz]

FiR had outsourced the manufacture of parts including mech’s to other brands before and there was speculation about Campag’s involvement right from the group’s release (the chainset’s are uncannily Campag-esque).
I was completely sceptical until I saw the gear shifters which looked just like Record apart from the adjustment screw caps. But even if Campag made the shifters it doesn’t necessarily mean they made the mech’s - they made the Ergo shifters for Sachs New success, but not the mech’s for instance..

Yep I’ve fitted the rear to a GT Edge Ti project. There’s no way I can justify using it really as it’s too precious. But… I couldn’t resist buying another one a couple of months ago!! - so it might stay on for a ride up the road and back. Would be good to see how well it works.

One day I’ll get it together and post some pics of the whole mech collection, but I’m a total tech’ idiot so prob too clueless to manage it!

Hahaha!!! You have two??
Man!!
Expensive and rare - curious to know how much?
if it were just expensive but replaceable then that’s not an issue - but expensive and rare as hens bollocks???

 

[ferrus]

I know, it’s absolutely outrageous. I’m disgusted with myself honestly!
The ones on Velobase were about £140 IIRC for front + rear and the recent rear one was £108 plus postage from Germany. I hadn’t factored in the additional taxes though, D’oh!
Feel quite sick remembering now…

 

[ibbz]

I know, it’s absolutely outrageous. I’m disgusted with myself honestly!
The ones on Velobase were about £140 IIRC for front + rear and the recent rear one was £108 plus postage from Germany. I hadn’t factored in the additional taxes though, D’oh!
Feel quite sick remembering now…

That’s not that bad actually - I was expecting to cost much more like the Tiso derailleurs @kingoffootball has been after !
Love to see some photos when you can
They’re simply gorgeous