Old Suntour 5spd clusters?

[Joel Mayes]

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

 

[John Henderson]

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?

Back then I standardised on 14, 17, 21, 26, and 32 sprockets
because of the even gear-inch progression. So I've probably
got unused sprockets in at least some of those sizes. I'm not
sure how many Suntour clusters I've got, but there's at least
one fitted to a bike.

Unless I've thrown them out, I've got lots of 5-speed Shimano
clusters somewhere with worn-out sprockets (usually the 14 and
17 tooth ones wore first).

A couple of years ago, I saw a big range of unused Suntour
sprockets in the workshop at:

Bike Superstore
20 Essignton Street
Mitchell ACT 2911
http://www.bikesuperstore.com.au/

but the owner was very protective of them, saying that none were
for sale. Perhaps they've changed their mind.

John

 

[Boostland]

"Joel Mayes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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

These guys have some 13 - 32 high quality freewheels ( clusters )

http://www.interlocracing.com/freewheels_steel.html


If you can fit a 7 speed in you could use the Shimano megarange freewheels,
these are quite cheap and easy to obtain and give a very large spread of
gears, I am using one on my mountain bike it has 11 to 34 and is quite
decent in quality.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/mega7/

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...-speed-Mega-Range-screw-on-Freewheel-1240.htm

 

[Terryc]

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.

If I had one, the answer might be see my widow. {.

To overcome this problem, I invested in TA cranks and started buying
smaller front cogs.

 

[Terryc]

Boostland wrote:

> http://www.sheldonbrown.com/mega7/

1. if you use real grease in hubs, you don't get the tick...tick...tick,
which makes it really good for frightening the bejsus out of people that
you glide up on {;-).

2) what derailleur do you use with that 34 tooth?

 

[John Henderson]

Terryc wrote:

> 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.

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).

> If I had one, the answer might be see my widow. {.
>
> To overcome this problem, I invested in TA cranks and started
> buying smaller front cogs.

I went for a Shimano 600 crankset (3 arm), and ran 34 & 50
chainwheels on the front, with a Suntour "long arm" rear
derailleur.

Shimano is just not the same. See
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/page35.htm for those
who want to know about Suntour.

John

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-04-14, Terryc <[email protected]> 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.


I've wees at least two, at bicycle recycle places over the years (all
before I wanted one damn it!) both times I had to stop and count the
cogs twice.

Cheers

Joel

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-04-14, Boostland <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "Joel Mayes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> 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

> If you can fit a 7 speed in you could use the Shimano megarange freewheels,
> these are quite cheap and easy to obtain and give a very large spread of
> gears, I am using one on my mountain bike it has 11 to 34 and is quite
> decent in quality.

Yeah I know about these, I don't like the 10 skip between the last two
cogs. but thanks anyway.

Cheers

Joel

 

[Terryc]

John Henderson wrote:
> Terryc wrote:
>
>
>>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.
>
>
> 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?
>
>>If I had one, the answer might be see my widow. {.
>>
>>To overcome this problem, I invested in TA cranks and started
>>buying smaller front cogs.
>
>
> I went for a Shimano 600 crankset (3 arm), and ran 34 & 50
> chainwheels on the front, with a Suntour "long arm" rear
> derailleur.

TA Stronglight triple, Top 56-40, middle 4?-36, bottom, 28 or 26.


>
> 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.

See
> http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/page35.htm for those
> who want to know about Suntour.

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.


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. {.

 

[Terryc]

Joel Mayes wrote:

> I've wees at least two, at bicycle recycle places over the years (all
> before I wanted one damn it!) both times I had to stop and count the
> cogs twice.

That explains a lot; Melbourne.

 

[Campag_nut]

Mate,

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

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Suntour-Free...51QQihZ005QQcategoryZ7295QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers,

CN

 

[John Henderson]

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

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-04-14, Campag_nut <[email protected]> wrote:
> Mate,
>
> Just saw this by chance - looks right up your alley.
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Suntour-Free...51QQihZ005QQcategoryZ7295QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>
> Cheers,
>
> CN

Loverly! thanks

Joel

 

[PeteSig]

"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

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

 

[PeteSig]

"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

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

 

[Wilfred]

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
>

 

[John Henderson]

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

 

[Terryc]

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.

 

[rooman]

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