Originally Posted by
sloar
Thanks for all the great recommendations. Anyone ever used a really cheap derailleur with good results. I have a mint suntour honor, I know its a 5 speed, but it has enough throw to reach all 7 cogs.
How "cheap" is "cheap?"
I know of Honor, but I don't recall using one since I've been cognizant of bikes. I'm sure some of the Huffys or Sears bikes I rode when I was a kid had Honor on them. But as I've read, the inexpensive stuff on the cheap bikes was the best thing about them- and functioned better than the expensive stuff. If you don't care about the weight penalty- it'll probably function great.
As was mentioned before the Shimano Z-206 FD was on tons of medium/lower medium bikes- and that thing was a champ on doubles and triples. I've seen those on ebay for $10. I have a Suntour AR (that came off a World Sport) that I've used on 6sp- I think from 14 to 30 in the back and a 48-38-28 triple. It "worked" but was happier with an M-735 XT.
As mentioned- the Shimano MT-60 is really sweet- IMO the RD is totally analgous to a 600 long cage. If I ever decide to go SIS instead of Accushift on my Trek 400 Elance- it's going to be a MT-60 front and rear with 6400 shifters and brakes. I saw an MT-60
pair on ebay for $10.
At the expense of what kind of sucker I may be- I think the Mountech is the best FD evAr; I paid $25 for a really nice one. I paid $30 for my beautiful, yet burly 1st Gen Cyclone GT.