Old Suntour 5spd clusters?

Mate,

Just saw this by chance - looks right up your alley.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Suntour-Freew...QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers,

CN

Terryc wrote:

John Henderson wrote:

I know Joel's after Suntour, but the Shimano 14, 17, 22, 28,
34 cluster was common on 10-speed bikes (with 40 and 52
chainwheels).
What years and where was this available?

I lived just north of Adelaide from '76 to '83, and those
10-speeds with 14-34T clusters seemed to be everywhere at the
time. 14-28T may well have been more common, but not as useful
for climbing the Adelaide Hills to Kersbrook and beyond.

Locally-made Porshe bicycles were very popular in Adelaide back
then. The name soon changed to Ricardo when the real Porsche
took exception to the closeness in spelling. From memory, they
all came with 14-34T Shimano clusters. But I'm sure some other
brands had this size available as well.

Shimano is just not the same.
That was actually the problem with suntour. The name was sold
at one stage and used t dump cheap junk.

A Taiwanese company bought and used the Suntour name after the
Japanese company folded - just like with Sturmy Archer.

Unfortunately, he doesn't say when the 14-3? gears were
actually first produced. I did find a 5 speed 14-30 Suntour in
my bicycle cupboard, but it had so little use that it must
have been a late emergency purchase, aka people had moved onto
6 speed 14-3x gears anyway.came out.

The big move up from 5-speed came sometime in the 80's from
memory.

I loved the line about Sun Tour front derailleur levers
working the correct way. It is really hard to move away from
them and gho backwarsd to other brands.

Bing "In 1974, SunTour was making Perfect, Procompe, and
Winner freewheels. The quality was uniformly high. Gear freaks
could get a complete range of sprockets from 13 to 34."

I basically started bicycle touring seriously in 1974, but I
never saw any of the 14-34 clusters available around
Sydney/Newcastle. Does anyone know if they were available in
Australia then?

None of my stuff from the 70's, Suntour and Shimano had any
rear clusters over 28 teeth. Yes, I still have the boxes and
demolished clusters. {:-).

My collection of 5-speeds is almost exclusively 14-34T,
undoubtedly because 14-28T was not what I used. I did scrounge
discarded clusters from a friendly bike shop, and I mixed and
matched unworn sprockets.

John

On 2007-04-14, Campag_nut wrote:
Mate,

Just saw this by chance - looks right up your alley.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Suntour-Freew...QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers,

CN

Loverly! thanks

Joel

"Terryc" wrote:
Joel Mayes wrote:
Hi All;

Does anyone have any old Suntour 5spd stupidly large range clusters
(14-38 or 14-34) they'd like to sell me? I'm trying to do a rebuild of an
early 80s touring bike I picked up recently?

The 38 didn't exist as far as I know and the 34 was close to as rare as
hens teeth. Common clusters were (13)14(15)-28, 30/32 at best, but very
hard to get.

Sometime during the early-mid 1980s SunTour deeloped their Alpine Gear range
of freewheel and special rear derailleur to suit. This was a 14-38 cluster
(the 'dinner plate') that, when combined with the commonly used 52-38
touring cranksets at the time, would allow a low gear of 26", similar to
most of the TA gear setups. Yes TA 5?-4?-24 triples were used, but not
everyone was willing to use a triple, so this was another low gear option.

Ah, here it is. From p. 248 of Berto, Shepherd & Henry "The Dancing Chain"
"1981 The SunTour GTL rear derailleur could handle the 38-tooth AG (Alpine
Gear) freewheel sprocket"

Several frieends of mine at the time used this setup.
--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

"Joel Mayes" wrote:

Does anyone have any old Suntour 5spd stupidly large range clusters
(14-38 or 14-34) they'd like to sell me? I'm trying to do a rebuild
of an early 80s touring bike I picked up recently?

I'm also trying to do a restoration of my 1980 Cecil Walker road/audax bike.
It has the original Shimano 5spd freehub, which alllows for a symmetrical
rear wheel ie. no dish required - inherently much stronger. The 5 spd is
also a dream to shift gears - who needs indexing?

So, as I would like to keep it in as original condition as possible, and
continue to ride it, the ongoing maintenance of the cassette is an issue. It
is only the second cassette on the bike (has not been ridden very much at
all in the last 15-17 years) but I would like to get a spare cassette and
chain to tide me over for the future. Does anyone have any idea where I
could source a 5 spd cassette in VG condition (on-line or from a Melbourne
LBS), or perhaps have an old one lying in the spare parts bin they could
sell me?

TIA

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

I asked at GoldCross Victoria Gardens, they said they had five speed
freewheels. Don't know if you get much of a choice on sizes though.
I actually asked about 6 speed screw on freewheels and when I expressed
surprise (since they only had 10-7 speed ones hanging on the wall) that
I could still get them they said "we can do 5 speed as well".
I'd still try Abbotsford Cycles under Richmond station though.
Wilfred
PeteSig wrote:
"Joel Mayes" wrote:
Does anyone have any old Suntour 5spd stupidly large range clusters
(14-38 or 14-34) they'd like to sell me? I'm trying to do a rebuild
of an early 80s touring bike I picked up recently?

I'm also trying to do a restoration of my 1980 Cecil Walker road/audax bike.
It has the original Shimano 5spd freehub, which alllows for a symmetrical
rear wheel ie. no dish required - inherently much stronger. The 5 spd is
also a dream to shift gears - who needs indexing?

So, as I would like to keep it in as original condition as possible, and
continue to ride it, the ongoing maintenance of the cassette is an issue. It
is only the second cassette on the bike (has not been ridden very much at
all in the last 15-17 years) but I would like to get a spare cassette and
chain to tide me over for the future. Does anyone have any idea where I
could source a 5 spd cassette in VG condition (on-line or from a Melbourne
LBS), or perhaps have an old one lying in the spare parts bin they could
sell me?

TIA

Wilfred wrote:

I asked at GoldCross Victoria Gardens, they said they had five
speed freewheels. Don't know if you get much of a choice on
sizes though. I actually asked about 6 speed screw on
freewheels and when I expressed surprise (since they only had
10-7 speed ones hanging on the wall) that I could still get
them they said "we can do 5 speed as well". I'd still try
Abbotsford Cycles under Richmond station though. Wilfred

As far as I know, Shimano still makes a 5-speed, but only in
14-28T.

John

John Henderson wrote:
Terryc wrote:

I lived just north of Adelaide from '76 to '83, and those
10-speeds with 14-34T clusters seemed to be everywhere at the
time. 14-28T may well have been more common, but not as useful
for climbing the Adelaide Hills to Kersbrook and beyond.

Well, that makes sense. I wonder why they never appeared in Newcastle or
especially Sydney at the time.


My collection of 5-speeds is almost exclusively 14-34T,
undoubtedly because 14-28T was not what I used. I did scrounge
discarded clusters from a friendly bike shop, and I mixed and
matched unworn sprockets.

Well, obviously Adelaide had far better bicycle shops than Sydney.
Perhaps there was seen as money in The Hills, "so we had better get
those 14-34 clusters on the bicycles we sell".

Oh, well I'm glad someone was getting them.

Joel Mayes Wrote:
Hi All;

Does anyone have any old Suntour 5spd stupidly large range clusters
(14-38 or 14-34) they'd like to sell me? I'm trying to do a rebuild
of an early 80s touring bike I picked up recently?

Cheers (and thanks!)

Joel
Ive got two spare x 6spd Suntour cassettes...sorry not a five in
sight...

these old cassettes are built like the proverbial brick outhouse...
havnt seen a 5 for yonks...good luck... Bicycle Recycle in Morrabbin
may have one if you call them

672a South Rd
Moorabbin, VIC 3189
Mon-Fri 9:00am- 5:00pm
Sat 9:00am- 4:00pm
Tel: (03) 9555-8692

cheers


--
rooman