Suntour XC Pro Hubs…am I getting into trouble here?

[Bike Hoarder]

Available here for £9 pair!....were £4.99....bloody inflation!

Suntour self-energising (SE) rear brake cantilever

Using the Pedersen designed 'self energising' system, these brakes take the rotation of the rim and turn it into braking energy. As the pads contact the rim, they 'energise' the canti arms, dragging them slightly forwards and further inwards, thus creating extra braking power. Made in Japan...

www.sjscycles.co.uk

Slight topic drift - they also have suntour cable hangers in black, and straddle cables too. Surely the finishing touch to any Suntour equipped build? Just like Panolgano's pic above.

 

[Dr Dremel]

Oh god! What did I get myself into…just purchased them in the meantime…

I guess I self fulfilled the title of the thread…

I mean a lot of my "normal" (non retro) riding buddies think of my old bikes that they´re all unridable. From that perspective it´s all just different levels of awful
And for the price it´s worth a shot, as I said I didn´t find them to be that bad.

 

[FluffyChicken]

It's all part of the fun, they should be XC Pro SE and just XC Pro front. There was a front version made...
They look like a nice set there.
Iirc tandems riders liked to try them back in the day.

 

[fearfactoryüberalles]

MD cassettes do pop up regularly on the web, due to their obscurity they rarely fetch top monies. I went down the Suntour Japan's rabbit hole rather heavily and I must say this trip was equally trying on my wallet & patience. I wanted to collect a regular & a MD XC Pro full groupset, et voilá, in about 8 years only (from 2010) just succeded!

XC Comp stuff is also world class, usually even lighter due to its simpler, but still durable and virtually same design as Pro (but no GG feature). For brakes I'd choose Dia-Compe 987, well made, nice & light, same goldish shade as XC Pro also available, and quite a lot less expensive.

 

[PanoIgano]

So as an update, I found NOS suntour XC PRO hubs and MD 7 cassette for below 100 euros for all (will post pics soon!).

Trouble is the cassette is 11-24! Finding 28 or 32 tooth cogs in Suntour cassettes I understand is very difficult.

One thing, I was curious to try from Suntour as well is their headset. These ones are trully rare to my understanding...especially the XC PRO with the grease guards. Do they worth the effort for continuing hunting them?

Any opinions?

 

[FluffyChicken]

So as an update, I found NOS suntour XC PRO hubs and MD 7 cassette for below 100 euros for all (will post pics soon!).

Trouble is the cassette is 11-24! Finding 28 or 32 tooth cogs in Suntour cassettes I understand is very difficult.

One thing, I was curious to try from Suntour as well is their headset. These ones are trully rare to my understanding...especially the XC PRO with the grease guards. Do they worth the effort for continuing hunting them?

Any opinions?

You will not get them, that is a 7 speed range. Only one.
To get 28 you need 8 speed (they stuck a 28T extra.

It's all part of the MicroDrive, the front chainrings shrank to compensate as there was suddenly an 11T at the rear, before that it was 12T minimum.

This allowed them to shrink the 46/48T ring to smaller. (new BCD needed)
And the middle and granny followed (smaller BCD)

The granny ring being 20T now, rather then 24/26T, means the big cog at the rear doesn't need to be so big.

Hence everything shrank in size and weight and we have MD.

Shimano then copied it, with tweaks the next year.

Suntour problem was the cassette were not compatible with anything else, if they use a Shimano style setup everything would have been easier.
Locked into a new standard hell.

 

[PanoIgano]

 

[Bike Hoarder]

I managed to source an XC Pro GG headset from Jez years ago, ashamed to say I still haven't used it yet. Can't vouch for the quality, other than it feels nice to own it! If you're going for the full group don't forget a seatpost.

 

[DoctorRad]

I am def out of this then. Suntour thumbshifters is the furthest I would go. Perhaps the XC crankset or even derailleurs. Unless you tell me they are a trouble too but I can’t see how…

I have MD and non-MD cranksets and crank arms in various conditions, as well as GG bottom brackets. Let me know if you're interested.

 

[boy"O"boy]

One thing, I was curious to try from Suntour as well is their headset. These ones are trully rare to my understanding...especially the XC PRO with the grease guards. Do they worth the effort for continuing hunting them?

Any opinions?

Big fan of Suntour XC pro here. My Pace RC100 is an XC pro build and I've decided to go the same route for my Serotta Pro-flex resto.

Like you've mentioned - hunting a headset down will be the bit that takes time. Took 12 months to find a NOS one in 1" size. As @DoctorRad explains in my wanted ad here -

Sorted - Suntour XC pro 1" headset NOS/VGC please.

Hi all. I'm after the final piece of the parts Jigsaw needed to complete my XC pro/ Off road Pro-flex build. I've missed out on 3 NOS ones now - either wasn't quick enough on the bids or the shop stock inventory didn't match what they'd sold. This is obviously a hard to find part so I'm prepared...

www.retrobike.co.uk

in typical Suntour fashion, even the sizes on the 1" headset are different! 1" and 1 1/8" sizes only too.

As Bikehoarder said.... Seatpost to complete the group set. Don't forget the pedals too.....really nice especially in the Champagne colour.

On the whole, a complete group set has been a pain in the arse to sort....several of my parts have come from the US so factor in taxes/import, but it's well worth the effort.

boy"O"boy