This rather beautiful object is a Sachs-Huret New Success ARIS branded up for Zeus. Zeus had obviously decided that it was too difficult and expensive to develop their own indexed gear system and had decided to buy in a model from Sachs-Huret. On the one hand it was a very respectable, well-made, derailleur. On the other hand it is sad to see yet another European component manufacturer give up on designing their own derailleurs.

I have failed to detect any catalogues, adverts or reviews of this model - so I do not know its correct model name. I have spuriously called it the 'Zeus New Success ARIS?'. The question mark is the most important part of this guess!

Of all the various variants of the Sachs-Huret New Success ARIS, this may be the one that I find most aesthetically interesting.

• Derailleur brands: Zeus
• Categories: Zeus - the good stuff
• Country: Spain, manufactured in France by a German company
• Date of introduction: 1988?
• Date of this example: week 25 in 1988 (the inner parallelogram plate is stamped 2588)
• Model no.: unknown
• Weight: 226g
• Maximum cog: 30 teeth
• Total capacity: 28 teeth?
• Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
• Index compatibility: 7 speed
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: largely aluminium

Ref. 1100