Rene Herse Neo-Retro Nivex 11-speed Rear Derailleur, a design from the ’30’s?! 🔗

Submitted 10 months ago by kevincurry • 0 Comments • Oregon

More news from Seattle’s Rene Herse Cycles. Back in early November, I covered another modern throwback with the Rene Herses collab with OPEN Cycles. But, they’re at it again with the release of a new rear derailleur, that Jan Heine of Rene Herse Bicycles, says is the “ultimate rear derailleur“. If you’re looking for the perfect analog experience, this new rear derailleur may be for you.

The Nivex Rear Derailleur pulls inspiration from the 1930s Nivex (known by some to be the Godfather of the modern parallelogram rear derailleurs of today) but had to be designed from scratch, to handle the modern cassettes of today.

Photo c. Rene Herse

What’s the deal w/ the Nivex Rear Derailleur?

Using a desmodromic design, the new Nivex Rear Derailleur’s shift cable moves the derailleur in both directions for “lightning-fast, consistent shifts across the gear range”. The design eliminates the need for a return spring, which could mean lighter action. There is a compensator lever that is said to keep the chain tension constant and helps prevent chain slap.

According to Jan, the Nivex has been “tested over 10,000’s of miles, including Paris-Brest-Paris, Oregon Outback, and Unbound XL. This is the final version and it won’t be changed any time soon”.

You can get the Nivex Shifter in either indexed or friction flavor. Because the rear derailleur doesn’t use a return spring the indexing on the shifter is designed to be softer. The website says that the indexing “serves as a guide for the lever, but it doesn’t take away the analog feel”. The shift lever is designed to mount to a standard shift lever boss.

The derailleur and the shifter have been designed to be durable and rebuildable. Parts are available from the time of launch. The new Rear Derailleur is comprised of “more than 50 custom-made parts”. Both the derailleur and the shifter are hand-made in small batches.

Important to know:

The Nivex Rear Derailleur requires a special braze-on under the chainstay for mounting.
It cannot be mounted to derailleur hangers on the frame’s rear dropout.

It says on the Rene Herse Website that the Nivex can be retrofitted to existing bikes. Braze-on the Nivex derailleur mount and a cable guide large enough for two cables under the bottom bracket (a simple loop of wire will do).