If I was to want to "complete a group" on a bike that has first generation cyclone derailleurs, what hubs would I look for? I can find early 80's references to suntour hubs, but nothing from the 70's. It's been suggested to me that there were no suntour branded hubs in the 70's. Is this true?

1st generation Suntour Superbe would be my best guess although anything Sunshine would work as well, especially if you like high flange:

https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.as...90b9d&Enum=110

or the nicer Pro Ams as well.

Scott

This is an interesting read...

https://pages.citebite.com/o2n1u6u4w3qui

Suntour was part of a group of companies in the 1970s with a non-competition agreement including dia-compe, sugino, SR/sakae and sunshine/sansin... that is why you see bikes spec-ed with those parts together. Shimano started similarly but didn't have the non-competition agreement and soon offered entire groups of components which lead to the disappearance of the companies like Takagi.

For 1970s Sansin or sunshine hubs are the choice for high end bikes equipped with suntour.

The few 70s bikes with Cyclone groups that went through my hands had Sunshine if they were Japanese built. The European bikes have had Normandy. Are you doing a catalog restoration or just using what you have on hand?

Even mid-grade mid-'70s Fujis came with Sunshine hubs i.e. my 'late '74 ( early '75 model year) Fuji S-10-S Special Road Racer...

Sadly(?), I replaced my Fuji's original wheelset for my own first-ever-hand-built wheelset using Phil Wood sealed bearing hubs, and IIRC Rigida (maybe Mavic) 27x1-1/8 clincher rims using 14/15/14 stainless spokes... I was a Bike Warehouse junkie back then... Those lasted many tens of thousands of miles... Sadly, the rear taco'd on a cross-country ride while out of state, and the LBS took my wheels in trade for a new set of generic cheapies. Hmmmm, who got taken in that deal... :/

I just recently found another original set of Sunshine/Akai 27" clincher wheels for my beloved Fuji...

I'm getting a Talbot in shape over the winter and am still trying to figure out what direction to go in. As far as I can tell the cyclones in it are original to the frame. The wheels were replaced with generic cheapies, hence me trying to find something for it. I found a nice set of Ambrosio tubular rims that will get laced to whatever I find. The bike currently has campy cranks, BB, and headset, and I have Superve brakes on the way. So the whole thing will end up have Japanese, half Italian on a Canadian frame I guess! Just want to get something that at least fits in with some of the bits.

Anyone know the vintage of these Vx hubs? The rear is spaced at 126 mm and they're laced to Rigida rims.

There should be a two character code stamped on it somewhere - first letter is the year. W = 1980 - you can work forward/backward from there to find the year.

I have a set of these hubs................they came on a Raleigh Touring 14...........the complete group is branded Suntour Vx

SunTour didn't offer hubs under their own name until the early 80s, but the hubs marketed then as SunTour were actually re-badged Sanshin ("SunShine") hubs. Before that, many bikes with SunTour derailleurs came with Sanshin or Suzue hubs.

So when did superbe hubs show up?

My Cyclone equipped bike came originally with low-flange Sunshine Pro-Am hubs. They're quite nice.

Late '70's ...

Scott

I bought a SEKAI 2500 in 1977, and the SEKAI 2700 was similar. They had cyclone derailleurs and shimano 600 hubs. In those year, Shimano was copying Campagnolo and the Shimano 600 parts actually had oiler holes and nice loopy locknuts.

https://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai..._gt_deluxe.jpg

Sanshin / Sunshine was THE hub made in japan in the 70's. Sunshine made the suntour hubs later on. Sunshine had a method called "spin-welding" to attach the flanges to the hubs which was way cheaper than anybody else could make nice hubs. You could buy Sunshine Pro-am hubs, or the top-of-the-line milky Sunshine professionals to go with cyclone derailleurs. Also, sanshin gyromaster hubs were good, but I think they were sealed and a little later on. My 1985 TREK 500 had gyromasters and suntour new cyclone derailleurs.

I have a VX front derailleur, and just assumed it matched the V-GT Luxe, which I also have. They're both in excellent condition, as far as I can see so far, and VERY light, plus they're some cool-looking stuff. Very vintage-y, but without being too heavy.

Shimano offered xlnt hi-flange hubs (with peripherally reinforced flanges) in the early 70's, at two price-points iir.
American Eagle paired these with Suntour drivetrain parts.

Suzue was yet another maker of nice hi-flange hubs in those days, and not related to Sansin.

I have a wheelset built up with cyclone hubs and another with suntour superbe hubs (both are cartridge hubs). Beats me when they came out but they were definitely later than when cyclone derailleurs were common. The cyclone hubset is pretty sweet as is the superbe pro.