Bicycle Mechanics - Vintage Suntour Power Shifters

I just picked these up for my vintage 10 speed bike build out. Any views on Suntour power shifters or anything i should know. I presume these are early mid-80s but any other info would be great.

best

Andy290262

Those exact shifters came as OEM on my '85 Bridgestone 400. They are heavy but accurate, reliable and easy to use. The "Power" ratchet compensate for the derailleur spring tension and helps equalize the force needed to shift in both directions. Sun Tour used this design in these clamp-on shifters and several lighter, more "elegant" braze-on versions.

I used them on my Bridgestone, shifting a 6-speed Sun Tour freewheel, for the first few years I owned it until i had it repainted and had braze-on downtube shifter bosses added. Then I installed a pair of Sun Tour Cyclone Power Ratchet braze-on shifters that used the same mechanism.

I don't have those shifters but I do have a pair or three of the barend style and I agree they are great shifters. Are these stem mounted shifters? I can't tell if there is a housing stop or not.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=290262&d=1356533805

I don't have those shifters but I do have a pair or three of the barend style and I agree they are great shifters. Are these stem mounted shifters? I can't tell if there is a housing stop or not.
I'm nearly certain they are downtube clamp-on shifters since the ones on my Bridgestone were and looked exactly like the one's pictured, including the clamp bolt arrangement.

These are DT Shifters. The friction ratchet aspect seemed unusual and threw me. A little heavy but i tend to think about me dropping a few pounds long before i sweat the odd ounce here and there.

Thanks for info.

Andy

I've been using the Handle Bar end shifter version for about 30 years.

The suntour power shifters are pretty trusty. They don't deserve the trash heap, so an old 10 speed is a good home for them :)

The Suntour Power Ratchet shifters are my favorite friction shifters ever made. They have tons of fans. Enjoy them.

These are wonderful shifters and for friction systems there are none better save for Simplex retrofriction which will set you back a lot more coin.

I run a good number of Suntour power ratchet shifters and they just keep working day in and day out and they are perfectly reliable.

Good and SOLID, I had one pair of DT shifters many years ago, that were NOT all that solid and felt flexy in the fingers, NOT good for positive shifting. Those should work fine.

Many Thanks for all the feedback. They will be fitted and working in the next month so will report back.

Rgds

Andy

Andy- I agree with the positive replies you've gotten. My advice is to take the levers apart (one side at a time), clean them up and lube them well with a light grease. One issue is that with the narrower cog spacings common today the levers' cable pull between the ratchets is a bit large. So what was a fine tuning feature BITD is now a bigger der positioning tuning. Still the levers are wonderful. Andy.

My favorite DT shifters were ST Powershifters. Favorite thumbshifters: Ditto.