I've got an older bike with full SunTour on it now (derailleurs, freewheel, shifters). I broke the derailleur while tuning it up so I've decided to start a new project, indexing the shift.

I got a set of 5-speed shimano SIS thumb shifters cheap from nashbar, with a shimano 5/6 speed SIS rear derailleur. Do I need to get a shimano 5 speed freewheel, or will the SunTour 5 speed freewheel that's on there now work with the indexing? Thanks guys, everything I've found is for 6/7 speeds and hyperglide.

KJ

I have a DC Douglas which has a mixture of Suntour Cyclone 7000, Shimano 600 and Durace and it workd beautifully. It has Suntour Cyclone 7000 derailleurs and 6spd SIS shifters, 600 cranks and Durace rear cassette.

Personally, I've never had any luck with the Shimano/SunTour indexing combination. One of my bikes now is shifting with 7sp SunTour thumbies in the friction mode because it doesn't match the Shimano derailleur/cassette completely. It's ok for most of the gears, but not all.


Roberto

I've had the same experience as clayface. It might be useable if the Suntour shifters allowed trimming in index mode, but they don't.

Do any?

The shifter and RD match may be the most critical parts. Ya got the freewheel.Try it. That's how you find stufff out.

Sometimes you get lucky and 'stuff happens'.

Out of my experience I feel that indexing is not so crucial when you only have 5sp (or even 6sp) at the rear.

Roberto

Well, I found a shimano 5-speed freewheel cheep at a local shop, so I'll try it both ways and let you know how it works.