Sunrace rear mech.

I have been tidying up an eighties Raleigh RacePro road bike. It really
needed a new rear mech and whilst perusing Ebay I came across a Sunrace Rear
mech, brand new for £6 delivered. It is not a make I have come accross
before. Last derailleur I bought new was a Benelux P4, which dates me!!
Being on a pension that price was attractive. I have this morning fitted it
and it works a treat. However, looking at the mechanism it is a bit cheap
and nasty. Have I boobed and will be buying another mech in a few months or
are they a little more reliable than they look.

Next purchase is a front mech as the existing one is rusty, though works OK.
I will be staying with Shimano for that.

Bill

On 4 Aug, 14:18, "Bill" wrote:
I have been tidying up an eighties Raleigh RacePro road bike. *It really
needed a new rear mech and whilst perusing Ebay I came across a Sunrace Rear
mech, brand new for £6 delivered. *It is not a make I have come accross
before. *Last derailleur I bought new was a Benelux P4, which dates me!!
Being on a pension that price was attractive. *I have this morning fitted it
and it works a treat. *However, looking at the mechanism it is a bit cheap
and nasty. *Have I boobed and will be buying another mech in a few months or
are they a little more reliable than they look.

Next purchase is a front mech as the existing one is rusty, though works OK.
I will be staying with Shimano for that.

I too noticed the Sunrace Derailleur on eBay. I've no idea whether
this particular model is any good, but SunRace are a well established
and reputable Taiwanese company who now own the Sturmey Archer brand -
so all modern Sturmey Archers are actually made by SunRace. Checking
SunRace's website just now, it looks as if their top-end derailleurs
are actually pretty good - and seeing the Campag Chorus short-cage I
priced this morning was £200, six quid looks like a bargain!

On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 14:18:05 +0100
"Bill" wrote:

I have been tidying up an eighties Raleigh RacePro road bike. It
really needed a new rear mech and whilst perusing Ebay I came across
a Sunrace Rear mech, brand new for £6 delivered. It is not a make I
have come accross before. Last derailleur I bought new was a Benelux
P4, which dates me!! Being on a pension that price was attractive. I
have this morning fitted it and it works a treat. However, looking
at the mechanism it is a bit cheap and nasty. Have I boobed and will
be buying another mech in a few months or are they a little more
reliable than they look.

In the 80s they were significantly below the quality of the bottom-end
Huret mechs - flimsier, and larger tolerances. Their better quality
stuff seems reasonable, but I doubt they've invested in improving the
cheap kit. Having said that, if you're on non-indexed shifters then a
little finesse with the lever can go a long way to compensate for a
sloppy derailleur.