What was the last chapter of SunXCD?
 

It has been asked here but I could not find it answered, so I guess it is worth asking again...

To those not familiar; in 2012, Junzo Kawai, the last big Suntour president, came back from retirement at the tender age of 92, to start SunXCD. I have known old Japanese dudes, that's not all that eyebrow raising. Sadly he was taken away from us at the tender age of 94, at which point his son took over the company. Long story short the came up with some pretty darn sweet vintage rooted components such as 120mm spaced high flanged hubs with hubs and 50.4 BCD cranks with adapters for 110 and 130. Then they kinda disappeared and I never heard the rest of the story.

Does anybody knows the rest of the story? Google doesn't have much. Nowadays it feels like if it isn't 'sponsored' content google can't find it :p

I have a few of their components. They're beautifully made.

I’m not sure what components they actually made vs putting their name on things. The derailleurs for example were made by Microshift (some functionally identical Microshift branded items could be had for a big “discount”), and maybe the 120mm cassette hubs were made by Dia Compe (Grand Bois still carries this kind of hub and is labeled “made in Taiwan”). I would guess their cranks were made by the same folks who make Velo Orange’s cranks, but that’s a guess.

For the most part I understand it was quality stuff. I don’t actually own any SunXCD components, but I do have Microshift mechs and VO cranks, and all of this stuff is very nice.

i wasn't aware SunXCD had packed it in. I haven't seen the cranksets come up for sale new that often, but the other bits seem to be out there. Other than the cranksets, their offering was very similar to the Dia-Compe "ENE Ciclo" line of retro-inspired components. I've never been 100% clear whether Dia-Compe was still making ENE Ciclo components or not.

I don't know any details about what happened to them, but I suspect my experience is symptomatic of their demise. I really liked the look of their components, but I never bought any because the prices were beyond what I could justify to myself.

I like to build vintage frames with newer components, but I want shiny bits that look good on an old steel frame. If that doesn't make me their target demographic, I don't know what would. Obviously there were some people with similar inclinations who did buy their products, but I guess not enough to make them a viable business.

I wish I could get a hold of their 50.4 BCD adapters and their own 50.4 BCD cranks where pretty awesome looking. Today I would also buy a set of their high flange narrow cassette hubs so I could have a cheater set of 27" wheels.

For the sake of additional info, here's the Disraeli Gears take on SunXCD: https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site...railleurs.html

Their website sunxcd.net is defunct.
It's too bad. Their shortened HG freehub hubs are brilliant.

Grand Bois has essentially the same hub for 120 & 126 mm width:

https://cyclesgrandbois.com/SHOP/gb_lfqr_R120126.html

I have one of their 130 rears on my Mk. I because I wanted vintage styling on a modern drivetrain. It was the only high-flange modern cassette hub I could find and it's a great hub. Apart from the flange drillings the Grand Bois looks very similar.

I bought a SunXCD crank for my Hetchins in order to get some low gears. Very nice, although I couldn't get the 175mm cranks that I would have preferred. This was in 2018.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...caf962_b_d.jpg

Selling such dedicated vintage-ish stuff like this is probably not going to make anyone rich, but it would have been nice for the business to have found a secure niche in the marketplace.

Steve in Peora

If you need a strong jolt to your system, check out the vintage stuff on that Grand Bois website.
I think 2 million yen for a Rene Herse is about $17,000 Canadian!
Yikes!:eek:

Overall, it would be great is someone, somewhere offered adapters.

abdon are you looking for the SunXCD adapter that converts a 50.4 BCD crank to 130BCD? I've got one.

Sadly, the 110/74 BCD :(

*Cough cough* jonwvara , new addition to your lineup?

I really like that guy's writing.

The only SunXCD part I got was one of the cranks- it's very nice.

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/151917295@N05/, on Flickr


by https://www.flickr.com/photos/151917295@N05/, on Flickr


by https://www.flickr.com/photos/151917295@N05/, on Flickr

Really- it comes out fine until I hit "submit reply" then it posts all goofy like that. ^

Even on "Preview Post" and even now when I'm quoting it- it looks fine.

OK, so I just have to quote myself to make it work... OK...

Cycles Grand Bois seems to still have some inventory of the Sun XCD cranks and the three bolt chainrings. TA is also still making the cranks, chainrings, the dizzying array of bolts/spacers/etc. they seem to make them in small batches and then the stock runs out and they do another. It has been a couple of years, so it may come down to chasing down what you need.

Peter White Cycles stocks TA chainrings. I'd guess he can get other TA goodies without too much effort.

If you're in the UK, or like paying postage, VeloDuo stock new TA chainrings.
https://www.veloduo.co.uk/collection...-bmx-sprockets
My Cyclone is wearing a pair.

Turns out they also stock some SunXCD parts - some 'sold out' but not all.

I bought their silver-pulley-caged RD for a low price from England when I lived in Sweden years ago, perhaps because they'd already folded.

It looks nicer, but performance on my 8-speed cassettes is middling compared to the cheap Acera I had on that bike. But sometimes looks are everything. And cheap. Cheap is everything.

Sorry to zombie an old thread, do you still have that adapter? They're impossible to find and the cost of getting one custom CNCed is more than I can stomach