masi61

I finally received the Suntour Command 7/8 speed accushift shift levers from ebay seller "bertob00".
They are very nice. Problem is, they come with no instruction manual.
Can someone give me a link to a pdf file or answer a few questions about proper installation?
Do these mount above or below the brake lever on the handlebar? The stop for the housing is adjustable. It looks like it can be oriented in order to run housing under the bar tape. Anybody got any pictures of this? In the meantime I will keep fiddling around with them to see if I can figure out a way. I am using Cane Creek SCR-5 aero brake levers BTW. I am also using Cinelli Nerve ergo handlebars that are grooved front and back.

Bianchigirll 

Hello they mount just above the brake lever, facing in of course I'll see of I have a pic but I doubt it

T-Mar

+1.

masi61

Thanks for the quick reply. I did see a couple of pictures on the web with them just above the brake lever as you say. Any reason why the couldn't be just below the brake lever? So far I kind of like the look. Also the cable routing is going to be a little baffling. It looks like you could run housing externally by pointing the stop away from you or turning it toward the bars lends itself to an under the bar routing. I think there will be a pretty big bump since the shifters sit on nice pedestals that set them apart from the handlbar.

Another question: I'll need to use compressionless housing for best indexing, yes?

Bianchigirll 

T think they would get in the way. also it might make it awkward to shift from the top of the bars

masi61

thanks for the pic T-Mar. the ones I have are a little different. They sit atop of shiny alloy pedestals and the adjuster screw for tensioning the friction resistance or switching to index mode, that screw is made of metal with a D-handle on it.

Grand Bois

Naturally.

Ducksoup_SD

My 1990 Cannondale ST-1000 came with Suntour Command shifters. They were mounted above the brakes and the housing was under the tape -- just about where your knuckles bent around the bar, so you didn't notice it. They were great for cruising because shifting was almost telepathic -- you barely move a finger to shift up or down, without reaching out to the brakes (STi, etc). My rear lever indexing died after about 7 or 8 years. I had grabbed a spare set when Nashbar blew them out on clearance much earlier and replaced them. I recently loaned the bike to a friend -- the replacement levers are still working fine...

masi61

Thanks for sharing your experience Ducksoup. I suspect that you had the version with the band clamp on them. The pictures I've seen where they mount above the brake and with the housing under the tape seem to be that type. I tried that location with my handlebars and find the location of the back of the paddle shifter to be too close to the handlebar top. I have the pedestal mount ones. It seems to want to be right below the aero brake lever. Also the routing of the cable housing seems to want to be staight out in front and then bent in a nice arch toward the stops on the downtube, no hidden cable routing. The cable routing I believe for this model will be very similar to the way traditional bar-cons would be run. I'll try to get some pictures up to demonstrate.

mrmw

https://lh5.ggpht.com/_Rla2F5PwwOo/Re...mand-Doc-2.jpg

mounted and hot to index:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...5-and-The-Hawk

masi61

Thanks for the info sheet. I actually saw that one on the web while Google-ing SunTour Command shifters. This information sheet seems to apply to the series of Command shifter with the metal band and a mount that is fairly close to the handlebar. Mine has this fairly tall (just under 12mm) pedestal that makes under the handlebar routing of the housing more challenging. The front looks like it could be run under the housing, but the rear looks like it only wants that stop facing forward, strange. One kind of cool thing about the front retrofriction Command shifter is the range of operation, it rotates around a full 270 degrees before it hits the stop - that could translate to a ton of front derailleur travel to handle any imaginable triple (or even quadruple?) crank application.
I loved your thread on the hawks and also how to make a shimano/suntour hybrid cassette.
I'm going to stick to my gut instinct on this and install my Command 7/8 shifters below the aero brake levers. And in order to have a "stop" on the rear 8 speed accushift lever, the housing stop wants to face forward so I'm going to end up with compressionless derailleur housing that routs in an arc front side into into the downtube braze-on stops, just like you would see on bar-cons. Unfortunately I don't have the exact SunTour information sheet for this series of Command shifters.