Can this Suntour Volante work with a 9-speed cassette?

BigglesZX

Retro Newbie
Hi all,

Just posted about my brakes; giving this question its own thread, but I'm talking about the same bike - 1983-ish Raleigh Stratos just acquired, in need of some TLC. I don't know a lot about the history of this bike so I'm trying to work out how much work is going to be "fixing" and how much is going to be correcting odd part choices of previous owners.

The bike has a SunTour Volante rear derailleur fitted (same as this one as far as I can tell), with a 9-speed cassette. I think the derailleur is original but not sure about the cassette. I played around with calibrating both derailleurs last night (friction shifters on the down-tube) and couldn't get into either the biggest or smallest ring no matter my adjustments. A little research has left me confused as it seems the Volante might be a 5- or 6-speed derailleur. But the Raleigh catalogue indicates the bike was originally a 10-speed (catalogue page one, two). So I'm hoping someone can tell me whether this is in fact incompatible, or whether it should be able to cover the range of a 9-speed cassette and it's just set up incorrectly or just stiff.

New cables on order, so I should be able to improve that part of the system soon!

Advice much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

James
 
Re the original setup, it seems I misunderstood the catalogue. I think when it says 10-speed it means 2x5. Other mention is made of a 5-speed SunTour derailleur. So can this derailleur be persuaded to cover this 9-speed cassette or should I be looking for a replacement cassette? Thanks!
 

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