I just picked up a NOS five speed Suntour freewheel on ebay to replace the five speed New Winner I had on my 1985 Schwinn Voyageur SP touring bike. This particular freewheel is marked "Suntour AP," which I've learned is the designation once used for Suntour's AccuShift line.

My question is can I expect this freewheel to perform similarly to the New Winner? Any other information regarding the date, craftsmanship, and quality of the AP freewheel would be most appreciated.

Many thanks.

Should not be any issues.

5 speed Suntour freewheels all had the same spacing and similar chartaristics design. The quality was very good as a whole on Suntours stuff. This freewheel should work just fine on your bike no problems. Hope you got a good price the price on most of the vintage Suntour 5 speeds has been pretty high in excellent or NOS condition lately.

Tooth shape's a litttle different, the way the sprockets go on isn't the same... but SunTour freewheel bodies are almost indestructible.

Great info, guys. Thanks. Sounds like I have nothing to worry about.

Seems like I did get a very good price, too, as compared to what some of the others were selling for. My freewheel has a flat black/grey finish, which perhaps makes is less desirable than the chrome and gold freewheels. Not sure.

After breaking a tooth on the original freewheel, I ran through a pair of IRD freewheel in a span of 18 months. Performance was good, durability was poor. The local LBS gave me a Sunrace, but I'm lukewarm about the feel and performance of it so far, hence the reason I grabbed the NOS Suntour. The original group on the Schwinn is Suntour, including Superbe shifters, so I'm glad to be reverting back to the bike's originality.

You can also find individual replacement cogs for old SunTour freewheels, so if the body is s still good, don't toss that old SunTour just yet. I like to replace 5-speed w/ ultra 6-speed units, having done this 12-speed conversion on both Capos and the Peugeot.

Contact BF member pastorbobnlnh at freewheelspa.com.

Thanks, John:

Unfortunately, I ended up selling that freewheel with the broken tooth on Ebay about two years ago. Had I known at the time that individual cogs could be swapped out, I would've hung on to it.

there's some commonality between Suntour freewheel bodies and cogs, but it's by no means universal. The Tech Bulletin available through Yellow Jersey is money well spent.

I was thinking of going the "ultra" route, but the Voyageur is currently set up with a 50-46 half-step plus granny (30). I'm not sure whether a six speed would keep the half-step intervals intact, which is where they should probably stay. Something to think about, though.

Thanks for the tip!

Here's my favorite site for checking these things: https://www.gear-calculator.com

That's a great link. Thanks!

If it's designated AP that should be Accushift Plus, as opposed to Accushift. It came out in 1990 and incorporated revised gate cuts and profiles to improve shifting under load. Basically, it was a response to remain competitive with Shimano's HyperGlide cogs. I'm aware of at least two levels of AP frewheels. There was a WT series used on Superbe Pro and Sprint and an AL series used on all the other lower groups. Both came with silver cogs though there were also more economical versions of the AL series with dark brown/black cogs. Sorry, but I don't know the exact nature of the techincal differences betwen the two series.