Suntour Microdrive cassette question

Help a failing old brain here please. Does a Suntour XC Pro Microdrive cassette have a different spline pattern to regular XC Pro, or are they interchangeable?
TIA

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They’re interchangeable as far as cassette body is concerned but the axle may need respacing if you’re switching from 7 to 8 speed.

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Corduroyboy":26vn9a4h said:

They’re interchangeable as far as cassette body is concerned but the axle may need respacing if you’re switching from 7 to 8 speed.

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Looking at buying a wheel set with an 8 speed cassette which I assume, perhaps incorrectly, is MD. I want to run regular 7 speed

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I think the 8 speed cassettes were MD - the only difference though is the ‘lockring’ which consists of conjoined 11 and 12 tooth sprockets on an 8 speed and a single 12 (or 13) tooth sprocket on the 7 speed. You might want to respace the axle the other way then (and redish the wheel too).

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I have experienced some suntour cassettes not fitting a suntour freehub. It was either that or some fitted straight on no matter what rotation, others only fitted in one location on the freehub.

Splines are the same, it's the thread on the end of the freewheel body which is vastly different (smaller than the regular, i.e. min. 13t locking cog, to accomodate 11t cog), so if you use the regular locking cog on the regular freewh' body, you might end up with same teeth numbers on the cogs, which can be funny.

As far as I know, all 8 speed hubs are Microdrive as well as the 8 sp. cassettes (as freewheel bodies are longer), if you want to use 7 speed, fine, but you'll need spacer(s). Suntour started using 8 sp. at the time when it clearly lost the plot/sales/clear marketing vision/budget, but wanted to keep up with the likes of Campag', etc., just to fail big time about 2 years later, sadly.

However, Microdrive cassettes have the Suntour-invented HG-style "PowerFlo" teeth forming, which is bordering on priceless, when smooth & slick shifting is on one's mind while setting a full Suntour system up.

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ishaw":2cfh9tj4 said:

I have experienced some suntour cassettes not fitting a suntour freehub. It was either that or some fitted straight on no matter what rotation, others only fitted in one location on the freehub.

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Have you tried to disassemble the cassettes, removing the nail-like securing rods from them? I was told by experts that those rods are not needed when a cassette is fitted. Removing them would give the option to play with each cog to fit them on the spline easier.

Anyway, Suntour Japan is a cult & obscure stuff, you either accept it or can be easily frustrated, potentially to grave danger' levels :facepalm: :twisted: !

cassettes are frehub body dependent.
8sp MD need 8sp MD body
7sp MD needs 7sp MD body
8sp normal needs 8sp normal normal
7sp normal needs 7sp normal body
...
of course spacers behind 7sp on 8sp would be possible, not the best and not nice for Suntour.. (Shimano what the hell, who cares ;-))


just hitting my old info bit

Freehub spline lengths
6 speed = 23.7mm
7 speed = 26.1mm
8 speed = 30.8mm

of course to help things :roll:
7 speed MD = 20.7mm
8 speed MD = 25.4mm

I might have a spare cassette/freehub body to sort you out Adrain.

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Hello guys

I would like to remove a 7sp Suntour cassette from a XC pro hub. Would you know how to proceed? Does this require a specific tool? Here's how it looks like:







Thanks!