| Outer Plate Markings | Ofmega Vantage INDEX | Inner Plate Markings | |
| Material | Aluminum Alloy | Design Category | Slant parallelogram |
| Attachment Bolt Size | 6mm Allen Key | Cable Attachment Bolt Size | 8mm Wrench |
| Shifting Systems | 8sp Campagnolo | Cable Adjuster | Yes |
| Cage Length | Short | Max Cog Size | |
| Max Chain Wrap | | | |
The Vantage group appears to have been Ofmega's catch-up group. The Simplex made "normal"/first type Vantage dérailleur is monstrous in comparison to this Ofmega-made rear mech'. It is in part industrial and solid (the inner plate is a solid ingot of aluminium) and ridiculous, with the "Micky Mouse"eared jockey wheels. The massive plastic flanges were meant to help the dérailleur push the chain up the cassette. It is a guess but this is likely to have been made to be compatible with Campagnolo's 8-speed indexed system; most Ofmega kit is Campagnolo compatible.
The flanges are a part of the jockey wheels. There is a patent for them and for this dérailleur: FR2637249A1.
It is possible that these dérailleurs come in other colour forms, many Ofmega offerings did. However, Ofmega's love of colour had, almost certainly, ended by the time this dérailleur came out; so, it is unlikely that there are any red or blue models out there.
These dérailleurs are probably very rare. The one photographed, above, was the only one that had been seen for many years. It might be that the jockey wheels are impossible to replace. You would certainly need to replace the bolts, if you wanted to use standard wheels. This one is new-old-stock and isn't going to be used; so, judgements on whether it works well will have to be made once another one turns up.
There may have been a "junior" version of this dérailleur (for child's bikes) called the "Scout", which might have been very colourful. It is mentioned as a passing memory from Michael Sweatman's Disraeli Gears.
This dérailleur definitely falls into the "rare and unusual" catagory.
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| Component Groups |
| Primary Group Name | Brand | Quick Info | Browse Group Components |
| Vantage | Ofmega | 1992 - , Road Race | View 10 Components |
Details: Vantage was Ofmega's replacement for the Gran Premier groupset. Ofmega made the cranks, bottom bracket, pedals and headset for the group. Other parts were often made by other manufacturers, such as Simplex.
The Vantage dérailleurs were made by Simplex and were the same as the Simplex Vallee mechs. Disreali Gears show one, listed as "Ofmega dérailleur" (see here). They are better made than the Linea range but not much. Oddly, however, there are two versions of the rear dérailleur, the standard one, shown on the Disreali Gears page, and a better finished version with special "guide plates" on the outer side of the jockey wheels. The second version often comes with charcoal knuckles and with "Vantage" (sometimes "Vantage INDEX") printed on them. This second type was almost certainly made by Ofmega.
The crankset is well made but with few distinguishing features. Most of the other components are fairly rare but they did seem to come in the same two colour forms - charcoal grey or brushed aluminium. It would appear that Ofmega lost its spark for innovation and colour in the late 1980s or, perhaps, no longer had the finances to be as ebullient.
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Ofmega SpA was an Italian motorbike and bicycle components company producing high quality components in a variety of ranges: including Master, Mistral (for both road and track), Mundial (a cheaper, slightly later version of Mistral), Competizione, Super Competizione, Linea, Premier, Gran Premio and CX for the road and Sierra for mountain bikes. There were probably more, including at least one other pista/track range. They also produced children's cranksets, individual chainrings and other small components.
The company had a reputation of making slightly (or really) innovative products that were made to a very high quality. Their Mistral dérailleur range, made from a high density, strong plastic, were considered to be amongst the lightest on the market and, certainly, the most colourful. The Mistral range included five (possibly more) colour-coordinated groupsets (both front and rear dérailleurs and "Sintesi" pedals); Pink ("Maglia Rosa" - "Pink Jersey"), Yellow ("Maillot Jaune" - "Yellow Jersey") and Blue ("Squadra Azzura" - "Blue Team" after the Italian national team), Black and Whitest/grey (it would be nice to think that this was the "Milk Race" but probably not). There may have been a green variety but this may just be someone seeing a blue item that had been bleached out in strong sunlight - apparently the blue form was prone to bleaching. A cheaper version of the Mistral rear dérailleurs were produced as the "Mundial" range (with an aluminium jockey-wheel cage and no adjustable barrel spring) but only in black.
The Mistral range was not their only colourfull offering. From the mid-1990s Ofmega started to produce the Sierra range, which was mostly appalling. However, there was a spin-off groupo called Sirio. Sirio cranks came in at least two colours, bright pink and acidic green, whereas, the Sierra range came mostly in black, grey and white. It was these groups that had their production moved in Slovakia in 2000. In addition, the Competizione groupset came anodised in red, blue or gold, as well as plain aluminium: The anodised components included hubs, chainrings and pedals.
Ofmega made or rebranded components for other bicycle brands, such as Bianchi, Colnago, Legnano, Regina and Avocet. At one point, most of the Avocet component range was made by Ofmega. Often, the rebranding is just an added pantographed logo (in the Colnago case, it is the singature of Ernasto Colnago). However, in the case of Legnano branded components, the logo is engraved into the item. It may be that some items were made by other companies, such as the Simplex, in the late 1980s and 1990s. It is thought that the gear shifters for the "Mistral" range were made by Modolo; the cronos shifters look very similar. However, on close inspection, the two aren't that similar and Ofmega claim to have made them themselves.
They made most of the sets, including hubs, cranks, headsets, freewheels, front and rear dérailleurs, as well as odd small parts. Ofmega appeared to have outsourced their dérailleur production to Simplex in 1987 (Michael Sweatman, Disraeli Gears), and some Simplex derailleurs were labelled Ofmega. This lead to an apparent lowering in quality. However, some of their latest items were of a very good standard.
Ofmega missing groups (a list of groupsets not yet represented on Velobase): Strada (may be the same as Competizione or Master), Nuovo Competizione, Vega, Acero, Motion, Rover, Sierra, Lusso, BMX, Nuovo Mistral, Vantage 2 (some of these may be after the period). The "BMX" kit that Ofmega made in the period are smaller "Mundial" pieces. The carbon mountain bike cranks and the glorious "Nuovo Mistral" carbon cranks were the last things that Ofmega took to bike trade shows.
