Originally Posted by
Andy_K
If you're talking about the mid-80's hubs, I can offer some speculation. I have both and while I haven't opened them up (both are perfectly smooth), I can say they look suspiciously similar. The main difference (externally) is that the Specialized hubs have an alloy dust cap while the SunTour have plastic.
I've read that both were made by Sanshin, but I have no evidence of that.
The differences are, at least according to my samples, the Specialized is a 'sealed' hub meaning it has an exposed bearing race with basically a dust covering seal. Here is a Specialized 'Sealed' hub taken from a '86 Trek 760:
Here is the Suntour taken from an '86 Miyata Pro. This has a full cartridge bearing:
