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Old 02-28-09 | 07:06 PM
  #6  
robatsu
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,683
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From: Kansai
Suntour in addition to the gruppo comments above, Suntour was associated with several companies in the Kansai region of Japan, Sugino and Sunshine most prominently. Virtually all the Suntour branded cranks were actually manufactured by Sugino, while virtually all the hubs by Sunshine. In many, if not most cases, the similarities between Suntour branded components and the Sugino/Sunshine branded item is quite obvious. I'm not as sure of the brake connection, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Also, things that are Superbe Pro are not always marked that way. For instance, I have a set of Superbe Pro brakes, very early ones, evidently. The calipers look exactly like the Superbe ones, and actually say "Superbe". The levers are a bit more modern looking. You would only know they are "Pro" because the box says they are. FWIW, I have a set of NOS Cyclone calipers from the same era and they are distinquishable only by some color differences and one plastic part where the superbe pro has metal. Full parts interchangeability, fwiw, at least for these two examples.

One reason many may prefer cyclone is that Superbe never, to my knowledge, had a GT (i.e, long cage) derailleur, so good luck w/a triple. Maybe near the end... Plus, up until recently, Cyclone was sort of an undiscovered secret that a lot of it was basically Suntour's best, but didn't have the glitz/glamor of Superbe.
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