I have a Mountech XC front derailleur I use with bar end shifters. I like the high normal set up on the FD. I see Suntour had both Mountech and Mountech XC. Are these similar? Both High normal?

etherhuffer - are you sure it says "Mountech XC?"

Those are two separate lines.

There's Mountech- and there were a couple different variations of the RD- the FDs I've seen are the same with the exception of the screen/logo

Then there's XC. XC was top of the line, XC Sport was beneath that. Later on there were the XC9000, XC7000, XC Pro, XC Comp, XCM, XCD... But in the Mountech times- I think it was just XC and XC Sport and those were separate from Mountech. I think.

XC was the replacement for Mountech. The latter's front derailleur was low normal, while the former was top normal.

OK, that confirms what I found. Its XC I am looking for. It works with bar ends so that your top gears are "shift ends down" and low gears "shifter ends up"

There was also Mountech II but that also had a low normal FD.

Does anyone has or has seen a catalog with Mountech II components? It should be from 1985 mid to late or an early 1986

The Mountech II FD was effectively exactly the same as the Mountech- save for the branding and the pin holding the outer cage. My Mountech I has the cable stop on it- but it could be removed- I just left it on there.

MountechFD by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

MountechFD3 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

MountechFD2 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

MountechFDWeight2 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr


Again- the reason this one weighs 5g more is because of the removable cable stop.

MountechFDWeight1 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr


But the Mountech II RD was ENTIRELY different.

MountechIIRD by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr



I think it bears repeating that this durable, wide range ATB derailleur weighs less than pretty much every other derailleur- except maybe Cyclone. Despite the poor reputation of the RD, and by name association- anything "Mountech," the FD is one of the best all-round FDs ever.