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The Attic -
Attic What IZIT
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 #28
 What the.... If you have never had to use one you probably won't win this edition. The winning answer will include the Make, Model and Functionality of the item. If more than one person gets that correct the tie will go to creativity. Personal experience is a big plus.
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What a battle this edition has been with several potential winners in the pack. Our panel of judges deliberated long and hard over this one and an eventual majority vote decided the winner.
WINNER - Frank Salino: "Hey I know that one, Its from a Shimano U-Brake that was supposed to be mounted under the seat stays. It was to keep the chain out of the brake/seat stay area. You were way cool if you used it with a shark fin on top of the seat stay to keep the chain from sucking in there. I even think they called it a Shark Tooth. Of course it was a crappy setup. The U-Brake had no power and collected mud like crazy. Shimano was just trying ti steal the thunder from Sun Tour and WTB with the way better and way cooler Roller-Cam under the seat stay. I still ride my old Fat Chance with the WTB roller-cam under the stay and many newer riders will ask me why I ride without a rear brake. Then I flip the bike up and show them the set up and wait for the puzzled look. I miss the clean cable routing of this set-up and I miss Sun Tour. Evil Shimano, made them go away. Long Live XC Pro. Bring back top mouinted Thumb Shifters and Roller Cam brakes!!!"
RUNNER UP - Telford Crisco: "That is a Shimano Shark Tooth anti-jam device for a Shimano U-Brake. It was designed to prevent the chain from jamming up between the U-Brake arm, the chainring, and the right chainstay. This feature was introduced in 1988 in both the Deore and Deore XT (BR-M731 and BR-MT61 brakes) lines. It remained a feature on Shimano U-Brakes through 1992 where it was a part of the Deore XT and DX brake. XTR was introduced in 1992, however, U-Brakes were not part of the XTR line; 1992 was the last year for this part as Shimano phased U-brakes out of Deore in 1993, replacing them with low profile cantilevers. Shimano introduced a complement to the Shark tooth in 1989, the Shark Fin chainstay protector/chain deflector designed to defelct the chain from dropping between the wheel and the chainstay. I had one of the Shark tooth things on my very first mountain bike, a 1988 Diamond Back Apex. That bike was built like a tank with Shimano Deore components. It had a funky purple haze finish - kind of a smokey effect. Fully rigid of course. Equipped with the U-brake in back and a canti in front. I bent the Deore cranks doing BMX jumps on the bike - replaced them with some of Roger Durhams bombproof cromo Bullseye cranks." ...Hard to knock this answer, but Frank's experience and the fact that he is crazy enough to still ride a Roller-Cam put him over the top.
RUNNER UP - Geoff Yeo: "Shark Tooth! I have one on my deore XT U-brake that resides under the chainstays of my '88 Trek 8000 singlespeed. Back in the day, chainsuck was complicated by some geniuses deciding to put the rear brake down in the same area, so the shimano guys put this little plastic thingie on the U-brake mounting bolt to theoretically deflect the chain from getting stuck in the traffic jam down there. Works great on my bike, but that may be cuz it's only got one gear now. And i can even give you the catalog part #: 83C 9901 (for a 10 pack) Oh yeah, the Shark Tooth was later integrated into the U-II booster/stiffener." ...Another great answer. We can hook you up with a 10-pack if you like!
RUNNER UP - Chris Marenghi: "This is a SHIMANO Sharktooth, which mounted to Shimano under-chainstay U-brakes to help prevent chainsuck. It's crazy cousin was an equally useless piece of equipment, the SHIMANO Sharkfin(those crazy Nip...pons had some sort of fascination with sharks back in the eighties)which was a cheap piece of plastic that mimicked a shark's dorsal fin and was zip tied to the top of the chainstay. It's purpose was the same as the Sharktooth. I declare myself the winner and demand my reward!" ...Trash talking is OK when you can back it up with some interesting reading
RUNNER UP - John Rad: "What we have here is a circa 1988 Shimano XT U brake, Sharktooth "Anti-Jam" device. As found on the Stumjumper Team no not the cool colored green and purple. Shimano part number M731. It was attached to the drive side brake post bolt covering the return spring. The idea was like an anti-suck device. Did it work? Well where are these brake today? I bet the device worked better than those brakes, that were a pain in the @rse"
RUNNER UP - Wes Prince: "Shimano sharktooth. Used on the right side of under the chainstay U-brakes to supposedly keep the bottom run of the chain from getting bounced / sucked up past the outside of the U-brake. Used for a couple of years in the late 80's when those god awful under the chainstay U-brakes were on bikes."
HONORABLE MENTION - Dwight Koehn: "That is an old thingamajig called a "shark tooth"...it goes on the drive side of chainstay mounted U-brakes at the brake boss bolt to supposedly keep the chain from interferring with the u-brake action."
HONORABLE MENTION - Brooke: "The izit is a Shimano Sharktooth which attaches to the chainstay mounted u-brake to discourage chainsuck, which, when it occured with u-brakes, was pretty ugly."
HONORABLE MENTION - Tom MacDonald: "This is from a Shimano U-brake. It was intended to prevent the chain from jamming between the brake arm and the chainrings and/or chainstays."
HONORABLE MENTION - Al Casile: "chain guide on a u-brake. It mounts on the drive-side of the u-brake. It also acted as a spacer/washer for that mount. I just took mine of my first ever mtb after having disc brake tabs welded on the frame (u-brakes never did work well). The disc brake tabs should breath new life into the frame as a SS."
HONORABLE MENTION - Bill Cunningham: "Shark Tooth" probably made by SunTour to fit on the right mounting bolt of a chainstay mounted U-brake or PowerCam brake to keep the chain out of the brake on a bouncing mountain bike"
INTERESTING ATTEMPTS:
Mike Fernandez: "That is a rare Marcel Duchamp surrealist urinal sculpture in black."
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