phillyrider

I had some interest in these - but missed the auction cut-off.
These shifters look to be late 70's. Is anyone familiar with this blue version that Suntour produced? Is it in-line with the early superbe series, quality-wise and rare? I've seen shifters - but not a derailleur set (maybe someone has one). They look pretty cool - but I'm interested in opinions.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...lenotsupported

divineAndbright

Probably went with this:
https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/...ur_(3200).html

Kommisar89

I have them (or had) on the '81 Motobecane. Not sure about the shifters though, I don't remember them being blue but maybe they are. Motobecane quality at that point was not the best and the rear dropout is apparently made of reinforced tinfoil and stripped out and the original owner lost the attaching bolt. I tried a few I had in the parts box but nothing matched so I ended up using a Vx-GT. They look pretty similar in design.

cyclotoine

+1, about mid range in the line-up, very similar to the Vx derailleurs (pretty much exactly the same).

phillyrider

Thanks...I was thinking along the lines of arabesque-like, which some folks like and many don't. The disraeligears site is pretty cool...The site said that one problem with the Suntour BL derailleur was that they were not part of an integrated groupset and not co-ordinated with other components. Maybe this was part of a solution. Funny how someone would put a blue derailleur on a yellow claud butler..Cool site.

cuda2k

I believe the blue line was more early 80's, I know a number of the parts are listed on Velobase.com, and think some are listed with the time frame. I've been doing a lot of updating of data in the suntour line up lately and is hopefully fairly accurate.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

in the Late 70's or early 80's Suntour also made a blue version of the Superbe derailleurs in a similar fashion.

Here's one on eBay

https://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Suntour-...lenotsupported

nlerner

Yup, SunTour Blue Line (BL) according to VeloBase:

https://velobase.com/ViewSingleCompon...=104&AbsPos=10

I might have a set of those in the parts bin. PM me to remind me to look.

Neal

dannyg1 

Umm....

I'm not exactly sure who's picking out your daily clothing guy's, but in this fashion-concious world, it rings bleakly that the combination of yellow and blue might actually be frowned upon. I had the exact same reaction to a running series of replies trashing the mix of silver chrome and gold chrome, another directly complimentary choice.

froze

The regular blue line was middle of the road Suntour stuff. That doesn't mean they were bad, in fact all Suntour middle of the line stuff outperformed other companies top of the line stuff! As far as shifters go, those you have are friction obviously, there isn't any real difference in performance of any brand shifter, they just move cable. The only real difference between mid and high end shifters is the polish of the Aluminum and any art or engraving work they may have put on it!

divineAndbright

Heh, I thought blue was supposed to compliment yellow or vice versa being opposite colors, look at the swedish flag and all their volvo racing cars!

roccobike

In 1982, the BL was fifth from the top out of 13 derailer groups. I've had two bikes that came with BL as original equipment, one was a 82 Trek, the other is the 83 Trek 560 that I still have. Based on how the derailer housing is built up, it is one of Suntour's nicer derailers.
Edit: Neither bike had the blue shifters, I've never seen those before.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

unworthy1

I have the shifters in both dark blue and with *black* paint, and a RD where the plastic is also black rather than blue...I am pretty sure SunTour made a Black Line variation, but never seen any literature confirming it. Whether Blue or Black it's a fine mid-grade gruppo: good performance and holds up over time.

froze

The top derailleurs were Superbe followed by Cyclone, and Cyclone WAS CONSIDERED MID LEVEL! The rest of the mid level was VGT, AG, BL Pree GT, Tech GTL, Mountech series (not in any specific order). The rest of Suntour stuff was low end components. I'm not too familar with the XC series, and that series is confusing since different XC series occupied all levels from low to high. The XC series consisted of numbers and the higher the number the better then Pro was the best followed by Expert again though numbers established the ruling reign. Actually the BL line was actually recolored Cyclone series...at least that's the look the cages had that resembled Cyclone closer then any other model.

scozim 

My 82 Trek 610 has the BL group including shifters as original equipment and they still work great. I also bought front and rear derailleurs for my Gitane Tour de France and raced it last weekend with absolutely no problems with the derailleurs. Very smooth and crisp shifting. Sutherlands stated it could handle up to 24T on the rear but I was running a 13-26 with no problems.

ScottRyder 

I've got a Black Line RD and FD in my parts drawer and a set of Blue Line shifters I put on my '80 Fuji America. I've used all the Suntour shifter levers ... Superbe, Cyclone, VX and the BL. To me, they all shift the same, the only difference being the finish and weight.



Scott

phillyrider

Thanks all. The above shifters look nice - especially because they're not on a yellow bike
I know that friction shifters pretty much just move cable. I do like the finish, with the right color combo, as opposed to using the rubber shifter covers (friction shifters are kind of an accessory).

It's pretty cool that they made the suntour superbe derailleur (late 70's) in blue. Maybe suntour was trying the color option early on because the below derailleur pre-dates the BL series by a few years.

I have the standard black version of the below superbe derailleur on one of my bikes, and suntour XC on another. The suntour XC came off a tour bike with a triple sugino crank. The finish on the XC derailleurs is comparable to the suntour superbe. I think the set-up was originally for a mountain bike, but then adapted for a tour bike. It works well even if it's considered mid-range.