Suntour downtube shifters won't fit on downtube bosses...?

otherself · Jul 29, 2010

Hi all

I recently acquired a set of NOS Suntour 'Sprint' downtube friction shifter levers from circa 1987 for £9.50 off ebay (beautifully made - the best I've ever seen...with a terrific ratchet mechanism). However, when trying to mount them onto the road bike downtube bosses they appear to not fit. Regular Shimano downtube shifters are fine, but not these suckers.

I intended to use them with Pauls Thumbies for maintenance-free MTB touring as well.

Some detective work mentioned a need for spacers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stronglight/3430476621/

Are these available in the shops, or could they be fashioned from ordinary washers from hardware stores and what not?

tonyf39 · Jul 30, 2010

Re: Suntour downtube shifters won't fit on downtube bosses..

otherself":tw2g2va1 said:
Hi all

I recently acquired a set of NOS Suntour 'Sprint' downtube friction shifter levers from circa 1987 for £9.50 off ebay (beautifully made - the best I've ever seen...with a terrific ratchet mechanism). However, when trying to mount them onto the road bike downtube bosses they appear to not fit. Regular Shimano downtube shifters are fine, but not these suckers.

I intended to use them with Pauls Thumbies for maintenance-free MTB touring as well.

Some detective work mentioned a need for spacers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stronglight/3430476621/

Are these available in the shops, or could they be fashioned from ordinary washers from hardware stores and what not?

Yeah, I had some old Suntour accushift & they didn't work on my bosses either.
No idea re your spacer though.
Good luck

TeamTesh · Jul 31, 2010

Shifters not fitting on bosses

I've had the same problem with 90's shimano xt u-brakes not fitting on bosses and was instructed to use ultra fine sandpaper to lightly go over the brake boss surface and then they slipped on no problem. Not quite sure this will help your shifter issue or not but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
Good luck.

GarethPJ · Jul 31, 2010

FWIW I had some of those ratchety Suntours and I dumped them after a while because I found the ratchet interfered with accuracy of the the shifting. There were a couple of gears that just wouldn't go in just right and no matter how I adjusted things at least two gears would be off.

If they won't fit anyway you might be better off getting some friction or indexed shifters.

Suntour downtube shifters won't fit on downtube bosses...?

otherself

tonyf39

Senior Retro Guru

TeamTesh

Retro Newbie

GarethPJ

Retro Guru

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