Suntour appreciation thread

[morini]

Amen to that. I just bought a Vx rear deraileur a few weeks ago. I've ridden on Campag exclusively since the early eighties and I'm now becoming obsessed with Suntour components. Wonderful stuff, I just don't have enough money. There's a swag for sale on the Marketplace which reflects just how much this stuff costs these days.

Chris

[hartleymartin]

I'm also doing a friend's old bicycle which has all Suntour running gear - mostly Vx. Still all working as well as the day it was put together - just needs new cables and for me to take the wobble out of the front wheel.

[jbchybridrider]

"WOO HOO" I'm glad this thread came up I'll put something special up soon.

[ldrcycles]

Don't agree with Wyvern RH's comment about AccuShift indexing, i had a ProTour for a while with full SunTour GPX and it always shifted perfectly, the action was heavier and a lot more positive than Shimano Exage 400EX that i had on another bike.

Well, I'm glad Accushift worked OK for somebody, tho' it sounds like a later version than the one I struggled with if you are comparing it to Exage kit. Really the early stuff didn't work very well, especially across wide ranges which as a tandem rider and a tourist I was mainly concerned with at the time. After that I just switched the levers for Simplex retrofriction levers and never bothered with indexing at all.

Cheers
Richard

Just checked the date codes and it's December 1988, either they fixed the problems pretty quickly or i got a 'dud' (ie one that worked lol).

[WyvernRH]

Well, I'm glad Accushift worked OK for somebody, Really the early stuff didn't work very well, especially across wide ranges <snip>

Just checked the date codes and it's December 1988, either they fixed the problems pretty quickly or i got a 'dud' (ie one that worked lol).

Hmm, I seem to remember Accushift hit the UK circa 1985/86? I tried it out on our new touring tandem and nothing I could do would keep it in adjustment for more than 50-60 miles and it slowly got worse over the few months before I junked it, despite cable changes, prestretched cables etc etc. Maybe it was a quality control thing, tho' I know others had similar problems.
Having said that I had a brainflash last night and remembered that our 'heavy touring' tandem that I built in the mid 90's to cope with Oz back roads is equipped with the last 7speed incarnation of Accushift long arm derailleurs and the wishbone indexed gear levers that bolted to the inside of drop bars next to the brake hoods. These worked perfectly over a 12-32 freewheel and rough roads so obviously they had sorted it out by the end!
Cheers
Richard

[ldrcycles]

Came across this thread and decided it needs resurrecting to spread some more Suntour love. I vinegar dipped an old Honor rear derailleur recently and it cleaned up as though it was brand new, beforehand it was filthy rotten old junk.

And did the Noosa L'Eroica randonee on my Univega with it's Hero gears and stem shifters and they worked beautifully for the whole ride .

[Big daddy]

Hi all
Can I just ask
I have a roadie with suntour sl crank and down tube shifters
Front derailers is suntour sl very rusty
Back derailer is shimano altos I think
I have shimano 600 arabesque derailers front and rear
Can I get feedback please
Fit the 600,s or find a suntour rear derailer and clean front one up

[P!N20]

1. Install 600 derailleurs.
2. Ride bike regularly.
3. Spend time not riding bike sourcing Suntour RD and cleaning up FD.
4. Replace 600 derailleurs with shiny Suntour derailleurs.
5. Sell 600 derailleurs for inflated prices on ebay.