Is XC Pro any cop?

[marge602]

Hi. I'm considering buying a frame and fork off of fleabay. Originally it came with Suntour XC Pro, and the seller says he has most of it available, everything bar the brakes I think. My only experience with Suntour was the XC Comp my Zaskar came with, which was so bad it soon got binned in favour of some nice reliable Deore XT.

Regards

Marge

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

Just my opinion, but:

Thumbshifters are ace - much nicer action than XT. I still have two pairs in the stash for a rainy day... X-Press (if that's what you get) aren't as bad as many say but not a patch on STI.

Hyperglide is better shifting that Powerflo

Mechs, cranks/rings and brakes are on a par with M735 XT (although M900/XTR are nicer).

Resale values are also pretty good, so if you can get a deal I would say buy it, try it and then swap for XT if you don't get on with it

 

[tintin40]

I love it. lovely finish and works well. MD is hard to find. Great shame not being made any more.

 

[fettler]

Re:

I found front shifting is the best ever, rear on par with Shimano but I found HG drive smoother. Shifters are lovely & slimmer than chubby XT's. I never got on with the brake levers though, maybe just a personal thing. After 25+ years depends more on whether the gears nearly new or nearly clapped out.

 

[Minifreak]

I would have loved a full set for my Yo Eddy build, never tried any of the XC Pro kit other than the thumb shifters which I liked. Only reason I didn't go for it is that the bikes going to be ridden and it seems hard/ expensive to find parts in good condition in the first place and to future proof the bike. I like to keep a good stock of cassettes, chainrings and NOS chains for my builds.

 

[ishaw]

Re:

If you aren't too anal about things, chains and chain rings are interchangeable with anything in the correct BCD. Cassettes are a challenge, but out there and it's not too hard to build up a stash of spares (I've got a fair few). I think the quality and finish of xc pro is better than m900. As some have mentioned, the thumbies are great and you can get some that allow 7 or 8 speed indexing by moving a dial at the lever. Not sure if it means you can get away with 9 speed with a bit of extra push, never tried. It's a shame the rear hub since is specific for suntour cassettes as the hubs are excellent with the grease guard system, as are BBS and headsets. I wonder if there is a way to make a normal cassette fit somehow? Simple solution is to run a non suntour rear hub or both if non matching kit bothers you (it does me), as I believe shifting still works on non suntour cassettes.

 

[k-rod]

retro-bike builders 'anal' ...



.... naw ... say it ain't so!

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

Pro is exactly the same as Comp in reality.
They share a lot of parts and what they don't is basically the finish of it.

Comp is Pro with the fancy ball bearings and grease port taken out.


It always had a lovely reassuring clunk when changing gear, I'm sure modern thin none Sachs sedis chains will spoil that.


But if you didn't like it, then buy it. It's the retro way.
Find out what it's really like for you now ;-)

 

[jazzibizznizz]

Suntour always had the edge over Shimano when it came to front mechs, in my humble opinion.

 

[jimi911]

Having dabbled in many a set up I would agree that the XC Pro Thumbs are the best around. The feel the best on the trail by a wide margin. XT and XC Pro derailleurs and cranks are close, but shimano does have the edge on hubs, cassettes, and levers. The XC Pro levers work great, but I hate the angle the brake cables leave them at. Its way too harsh.

Forgetting XTR and XT ST-M095 existed I would say the best setup is ...

XC Pro Thumbs
XC Pro Derailleurs (Or XT ... close)
XT 732 Hubs and HG90 Cassette

Add whatever fancy levers and cranks you like. I'll running that setup my new Ti DEAN. I'll prob use the xc pro levers and go with toplines.