Fir Gemini front derailleur - beautiful and rare

[ferrus]

Did you buy the German eBay one ?

Yep. I knew I shouldn’t but resistance proved futile

 

[ibbz]

Yep. I knew I shouldn’t but resistance proved futile

Good purchase regardless of the condition

 

[ferrus]

I’ve just only recently made the foray into rare and exquisite Italian components
Having struck a deal for a Tiso Altore 366 rear mech here recently, which is going on my Bianchi MTB. Then I’ll be looking for the front mech

You bought it, great - congrats! Are you going to use it? You’re a braver man than me!

 

[ibbz]

You bought it, great - congrats! Are you going to use it? You’re a braver man than me!

Of course
It’s there to be used!
I won’t abuse it though!!
I’ll need to get my self a 12-27T dura ace cassette to go with it.
I wanted a Specialites TA or Tiso but in 9 speed no luck whatsoever..
I’ll be on the lookout for a Tiso front mech at a reasonable price. Every one I’ve seen is stupidly expensive

 

[FloHo]

Thank you for sharing the photos - man, absolutely stunning and precious !!
You should post these on the road bike forum - wastes here on the eBay marketplace watch
And you have sublime taste my friend - thanks for the heads up with the marques - I’m going to have a look. Out of curiosity is it the gold and black Suntour superbe pro you have ?

no, the (sadly) last generation, 1991-1994, champagne colored. maybe the best groups of all. i’ve put it on a rossin prestige in ferrari-red, love this bike, it’s really fast.
you're probably right with your advice to go to a larger forum. but this larger forum has never talked about FiR Gemini, here it is, that's how I came across it...

 

[FloHo]

Welcome to the site FloHo, great to see another Gemini collector. I’m incredibly envious of your groupsets especially the NOS one! - really superb stuff.
It’s interesting what you say about the shifters. From memory, yours are somewhat different to the ones I bought (but didn’t receive!) a couple of years ago. ‘Mine’ looked very similar to Campag C Record and lacked the wedge shaped contour at the ends. Perhaps they were from a different FiR groupset? I’ve also seen two versions of the brake levers described as being Gemini; the other had white hoods. Have you encountered those?

There were two road bike groups: Apollo, which was cheaper, and Gemini, which was probably outrageously expensive. Since nobody knows anything about these groups (they practically don't exist on velobase), they are often confused.

 

[ibbz]

no, the (sadly) last generation, 1991-1994, champagne colored. maybe the best groups of all. i’ve put it on a rossin prestige in ferrari-red, love this bike, it’s really fast.
you're probably right with your advice to go to a larger forum. but this larger forum has never talked about FiR Gemini, here it is, that's how I came across it...

I meant this forum but in the road bike section! https://www.retrobike.co.uk/forums/retro-classic-road.12/

 

[ferrus]

you're probably right with your advice to go to a larger forum. but this larger forum has never talked about FiR Gemini, here it is, that's how I came across it...

Minor discussion here when I bought the first, before I knew the groupset was called Gemini
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/very-rare-fir-derailleurs.388304/page-2#post-3353151

 

[ferrus]

Of course
It’s there to be used!
I won’t abuse it though!!
I’ll need to get my self a 12-27T dura ace cassette to go with it.
I wanted a Specialites TA or Tiso but in 9 speed no luck whatsoever..
I’ll be on the lookout for a Tiso front mech at a reasonable price. Every one I’ve seen is stupidly expensive

Respect

 

[ferrus]

There were two road bike groups: Apollo, which was cheaper, and Gemini, which was probably outrageously expensive. Since nobody knows anything about these groups (they practically don't exist on velobase), they are often confused.

Photos and info’ about Gemini are almost nonexistent, but I found this in my archives showing the white-hooded brake levers mentioned earlier:
https://www.facebook.com/Epicyclesr...topietro-dettopietropolare-/2760677717588106/
Also there’s this interesting thread on another forum. If you scroll down to the photo of the Pacenti Carbon with a full Gemini groupset, you can see that the brake levers are different to yours; the hoods are much more pointy and the levers are shaped differently.
Do you think the gear levers might be different too -it’s hard to do discern from the grainy picture but they don’t seem to have quite the same contour as yours?
I suspect there were a couple of versions/iterations of certain Gemini parts during it’s few years of production…
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/1161348-curiosity-vintage-f-i-r-italy-components.html