Sachs

Sachs was a European conglomerate that bought up many of the formerly independent French parts makers, including Atom/Maillard/Normandy (hubs, pedals, freewheels) Hurét (derailers) and Sedis (chains).

Sachs was the major European competitor to Shimano for the general bicycle parts market. Their parts in general were quite good, and stand up well in comparison with Shimano equivalents, although exchange rate problems sometimes make them less affordable. The bicycle division was sold to the SRAM Corporation, in November 1997, and this is likely to change.

Sachs also made multi-speed internal-geared hubs in 3−, 5−, 7- and 12−speed versions. Their «3 x 7» hub is a hybrid system, a 3−speed internal hub that takes a 7−sprocket cassette, providing 21 speeds with only one chainwheel.

They formerly also made kick-back hubs and a «2 x 6» hybrid hub. The one clear area of domination for Sachs is their chains, which are generally acknowledged to be the finest available.

The official Sachs website is now closed. More up-to-date information is on the SRAM site. Sachs was purchased by SRAM, so most of the products formerly called «Sachs» are now called «SRAM».