1994 Suntour ErgoTec Shifter experience?

[Gtpulse]

Looking forward to the pics.

I'm now myself in search of a pair of Ergotecs, nothing to be found on eBay or anywhere else. If someone wants to sell or knows about someone, please ping me here.

In the meantime, I found a set of MicroDrive branded 8s Twist Shifters. Same indexing mechanism, heaps and bounds better than anything SRAM made in the 90s.

Knew I’d seen some somewhere ages ago, took me a while to track them down again.
Link below, scroll to bottom of page.
South Salem Cycleworks
$400 ouch or is that a good price for something so rare?! They’ve been on there at least a few years so could be worth contacting Michael to see if there is any movement on price.

 

[Gtpulse]

Edit just realised it’s not these you are after sorry! I’ll leave the post there as it has the original Suntour leaflet in it.

 

[Vindiu]

I paid much less for mine

Yes, It's Ergotecs I'm after. Thanks for the link anyway, another resource I didn't know about.

 

[kenright]

I paid much less for mine

Yes, It's Ergotecs I'm after. Thanks for the link anyway, another resource I didn't know about.

Here's a pic of the pair I just bought from eBay. Yeah, $400 would've been a VERY hard No for me lol. Screw exclusivity, I'd rather find, rebuild and run Campy Bullet shifters, also 8 speed capable. That actually was my plan; to piece together Campy'd Off Road components from Euclid massive U-brake for the rear to Record OR for their gorgeous polished cantilevers on the front. And a Record OR crankset, long cage RD and whatever FD that I can find from them. But I finally caved and bought the Ergotec, I admit that I was quite taken with the concept and from what I read about them I'm surely not going to be disappointed.

 

[Vindiu]

Oh the Record OR... That would be my next project but prices are just too steep.

 

[kenright]

I finally got around to unpacking and snapping some pics. There are 2 paddles on each shifter; they move in unison. 1 is for the thumb while the top one is for the index finger. Dry-shifting is positive, almost stiff; but then again I can't see any indication that these have been used. No marks in bolts, inside mounting sleeve, chips, etc. The brake levers are metal, heavy metal, with a light return spring that must be hidden. (I have no scale for a weight, sorry!) It is shaped in a way where it doesn't interfere with the shifting pads. Labeled as 3x8 speed and was told it can run Shimano as well as Suntour 8sp. Further reading revealed a single poster indicating that there were 3 different configurations. If so, I have no idea which config. I have. Now that I have these I am planning an 8sp Suntour Microdrive build. If that doesn't work, then a 1st gen XTR, as I absolutely love how they styled that group!!! Maybe a 3rd Gen M960 crankset to replace the 1st gen. But I am really shooting for MD drivetrain with grease ports and some SE brakes up front since my Cannondale is rear U-brake equipped.

 

[kenright]

I finally got around to unpacking and snapping some pics. There are 2 paddles on each shifter; they move in unison. 1 is for the thumb while the top one is for the index finger. Dry-shifting is positive, almost stiff; but then again I can't see any indication that these have been used. No marks in bolts, inside mounting sleeve, chips, etc. The brake levers are metal, heavy metal, with a light return spring that must be hidden. (I have no scale for a weight, sorry!) It is shaped in a way where it doesn't interfere with the shifting pads. Labeled as 3x8 speed and was told it can run Shimano as well as Suntour 8sp. Further reading revealed a single poster indicating that there were 3 different configurations. If so, I have no idea which config. I have. Now that I have these I am planning an 8sp Suntour Microdrive build. If that doesn't work, then a 1st gen XTR, as I absolutely love how they styled that group!!! Maybe a 3rd Gen M960 crankset to replace the 1st gen. But I am really shooting for MD drivetrain with grease ports and some SE brakes up front since my Cannondale is rear U-brake equipped.

Correction: 2nd picture, rear shifter. Shows ES01 MD. So I am assuming I have the version that will control a Microdrive 8sp cassette. I'm good with that lol!!

 

[dirttorpedo]

what are SunTour users doing for cassets since their indexing is slightly different than shimanos?

 

[Vindiu]

Yes, the answer to your question is between the index numbers 8 and 10 at the right shifter. AP-MD ES01 is a SunTour index unit.
SunTour had a bit of a weird spacing. SunTour cogs are always 2 mm thick, whereas Shimano 8 s are 1,8 mm. Suntour had 2,80 mm 3 lower (bigger cogs) spacers and then 4 x 3,00 mm high (smaller cogs), where Shimano was constant 3,00 mm. Doing the math:

SunTour 2 mm x 8 + 2,8 x 3 + 3 x 4 = 36,4 mm total with; 34, 4 mm centre to centre between 1st and 8th gear.
Shimano 1,8 mm x 8 + 3 mm x 7 = 35,4 mm total width; 33,6 mm centre to centre between 1st and 8th gear.

In practice, you can use a Shimano hub and cassette, indexing between 6th and 5th gear 8 or the smallest 3rd and the smallest 4th if you prefer, and you will be off by a few tenths of a mil on the lowest gear. Top gear is set by the limit screw, no probs. You will need a SunTour RD, a Shimano will leave you short of covering the whole cassette as the pull ratio is lower. The Shimano RD with the most similar pull ratio is any RD 7400 series (Dura Ace), but they're not wuite as much as SunTour.

Finding a SunTour 8S rear hub and a MD 8s cassette is a PITA and will cost dearly. An 8S SunTour MD cassette will always be APII - Powerflo profile which works best with its own APII chain (CH-AP01 was the XC Pro tier). Only the chain goes for north of 100 dollars on the bay... It will still work with a Sedis or a Shimano HG but the pick up teeth on each of teh largest 5 cogs want the very narrow profile of the side plates on the APII chains, and so do the profiles on the smaller 3 cogs that haven't a fixed position as teh smaller three are screw on on the cassette body.

Don't ask me why I know.

You'll be fine with a full HG hub, cassette and chain....