Suntour back in business..
 

Randomly read somewhere on my facebook page, that Suntour is re opening and going back into production, to specialize in the Touring and Randoneering market. It can only be good news for CVers. Hopefully reproduce some of there classic parts.

You think? I highly doubt it.

Thus far, none of the new offerings are reissues of older products.

https://stan-pun.squarespace.com/

I think we need a new thread on this every day. ;)

[/quickly lists all his vintage high-end SunTour stuff on eBay]

:)

On the one hand, C&V has to be a pretty tiny segment of the overall bike market. On the other hand, there is enough quasi-C&V stuff going on with the Rivendells, Somas, Velo Oranges, Surlys and independent fabricators doing their thing at greater volume these days. If the old factory tooling on all the classic stuff is still around, you'd think the cost of entry to start making it again would be pretty small.

Command Shifters.

:)

Hey, they are trying. I hope they make it.

Stuff looks good. I could get into some 9 speed high flange hubs.

There still is an SR/Suntour, probably with former SR employees involved, branding/selling primarily suspension forks and cranksets. Google will find them for you.

The newish biz is Joy Japan, started by former Suntour employees, folks I worked with/for. They're trying to sell some parts under the SunXCD (kinda pronounced "sun-exceed") label, also a city bike under the name Orlandi and an "interesting" city tricycle with dual front wheels.
http://joy-japan.com/

They're trying to get parts distribution in the US, so far Merry Sales has signed on as a distributor. There's not a lot of parts on the menu, the crank arms, hubs, a rim, wheelset and the Microshift mini-drivetrain groups. This is encouraging to see, but it's also a far cry from "Suntour is re-opening and going back into production..." I also doubt there's going to be any reproduction of classic parts. The molds necessary for that stuff are long gone, and I don't see enough market support to justify tooling up for new production.

Disclaimer: I know the Joy Japan folks and could conceivably somehow get involved.

Old news I guess...

Not mega-old, the SunXCD parts have been around for a year or two, but nobody outside of Japan/Asia knew much about them. The Merry Sales distribution just happened in March, so that's still relatively fresh news around these parts.

I suspect that the Cyclotouriste-esque cranks will do OK here--especially with the adapter spiders.

Suzue Classicas:

http://suzueltd.com/index.html

If your shop deals with Merry Sales out of San Francisco they should be able to source some for you. That or one can purchase them directly off the Soma Fab store.

Having owned two bikes with the SR/Suntour forks, they do the job but barely. They are heavier than a 5 gallon bucket of water, and Are too bouncy for most applications. I have noticed them starting to show on the upper end Wal Mart bikes now, so maybe there's going to be a newer line coming out? It's a revelation for the Wally bikes though, that's for sure!,,,,BD

I thought the SR forks weren't too shabby, until I rode a Rock Shox Reba. Night and day difference...!!

Agreed, but those modern suntour forks have nothing to do with the suntour being discussed in this thread other than they have the legal right to the brand name.

Just stating opinion, and they do have the name on them regardless. I understand you completely though. The new hubs are VERY nice looking!,,,,BD

I like the high polish look their going for, and they did mix in a bit of old school look into the stuff as well. But they need more than what their offering, where are the derailleurs, brakes, headsets, etc? Why are they playing around with just few products? If their going to get back into the business then get all the way back in.

Seems they want the precision bearing aspect to sell the product, I'm Ok with that.

they seem to be on the right path w/ their current offering


i like the blurb at the bottom of their site

I think we should have some pics for this.
I bet if things go well for them, there will be more.
These hubs are offered in 100mm, 120mm and 130mm.

https://static.squarespace.com/stati...pg?format=500w

https://static.squarespace.com/stati...pg?format=500w

https://static.squarespace.com/stati...pg?format=500w

I hope that their list of available components will be expanded somewhat in the near future.
If they are focusing on touring, they are missing a few items:
Their cranks look nice, but...only go up to 172.5mm in length??? 175's are pretty much mandatory, and offering 180's would be recommended.
Rear hubs available in 120 and 130 ?? Not too touring friendly in this day and age. 135mm is pretty much the standard, and 126mm in addition to 120
would be a really good idea.
Just my $.02 (which is probably only worth $.01375 anyway.)

they've always had precision bearings, witnessed by the fact I have all Suntour stuff and none of the bearings have ever gone bad in over 160,000 miles. I just think if they want to get back into the market and have an effect they need to offer the whole package...but maybe they will later? Or maybe I'm wrong and they won't need to offer the whole package? Time will tell, I give them 3 years to either make it or break it.

I purchased this new SR Suntour Superbe triple crankset on ebay this summer for about $50. It operated perfectly with fast shifts due to the ramped and pinned chainrings. The 52, 42 & 30 chainrings are just what I wanted with my 13-24 freewheel. It takes a 8-speed chain well.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps012b14aa.jpg

No.

The "new Suntour" does not have Suntour in the name.

It's SunXCD.



I think that's going to cause problems because the Suntour name is now associated with low end equipment. Saying "Suntour is back" is going to confuse SunXCD with Suntour- even with bike store employees.

SunXCD is not SR Suntour.

SunXCD is the company of people that used to be Suntour

SR Suntour bought the Suntour name.

It seems it's already causing some confusion.

The forks have suntour on them? That's what I was talking about?..... And most of the bike shop employees I worked with, have never ridden a bike with Suntour derailleurs, or have ever heard of Suntour other than the forks. The main confusion would be because they have never heard of either company. (Suntour of old, nor SunXCD) I am confident in SunXCD's ability to manufacture quality components. I only hope they don't stay in the "unknown" status, or "that touring derailleur company.",,,,BD

Sorry, my bad. Pronoun confusion.