Suntour 6-speed freewheel; replace with Shimano?

ooermissus

I am fixing up an old bike for a friend. Chain is very very old and worn. The bike is fitted with a Suntour 6-speed freewheel and Suntour Accushift shifters.

There are very few Suntour replacements around - found one on ebay in the US for around £80 plus postage. :shock:

Am I right in thinking that if I fit a Shimano 6-speed, then I'll lose index shifting?

If so, what are my options?

Fit a new chain and hope it doesn't skip on the old freewheel? Or replace the derailleur and shifters as well?

Everything else on the bike is - after quite a lot of work - fine, so I'd like to get this sorted if possible. Many thanks for anyone who can help.

ugo.santalucia

If the freewheel has still good teeth, there is no need to change it. If you have to change it, any will do... at the time the distance between the sprockets was standard.
I am pretty sure Campyoldy still has some Suntour freewheels around

ooermissus

Thanks for that. TBH I'm not really sure how good the teeth are, as I don't know what it would have looked like when new. The chain is knackered though - 3/8" longer than it should be over 12 inches.

I guess I'll try a new chain, and see if it skips. If it does, try a Shimano 6-speed and see if it indexes. Then talk to Campyoldy who is just down the road.

kettrinboy

I replaced the original Suntour 6 speed freewheel on my 1982 Raleigh Record Ace with a 6 speed Shimano unit and it has improved the shifting no end , whether its used on bikes with friction shifters like mine or indexed it should work ok,Spa Cycles in Harrogate are good for old size chainrings and sprockets.

ooermissus

kettrinboy wrote:

whether its used on bikes with friction shifters like mine or indexed it should work ok

Thanks for this. It's the question of whether the indexing works that I am wondering about. Need to get a four pronged freewheel remover first before I can do anything else...

ugo.santalucia

ooermissus wrote:

kettrinboy wrote:

whether its used on bikes with friction shifters like mine or indexed it should work ok

Thanks for this. It's the question of whether the indexing works that I am wondering about. Need to get a four pronged freewheel remover first before I can do anything else...

4 prongs ones are rare... better luck with a splined one... the splined tool costs 5-6 pounds

As I said, chances are you don't need a new freewheel. Old fashion sprockets had thick teeth and were very hard wearing and not made of "cardboard" like the modern ones

ooermissus

ugo.santalucia wrote:

4 prongs ones are rare... better luck with a splined one... the splined tool costs 5-6 pounds

Not sure I quite understand the difference. I meant something like this: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cyclus-suntour- ... l-remover/

And yes I plan to fit a chain first and see how that goes - thought I'd have a tool to hand in case it started skipping though. Have a shimano freewheel for another bike I am fixing up (my old old Cannondale tourer) and can try putting that on.

rolf_f

kettrinboy wrote:

I replaced the original Suntour 6 speed freewheel on my 1982 Raleigh Record Ace with a 6 speed Shimano unit and it has improved the shifting no end , whether its used on bikes with friction shifters like mine or indexed it should work ok,Spa Cycles in Harrogate are good for old size chainrings and sprockets.

I'm curious - in what way has the change improved shifting? My 1980 Record Ace has a 6 speed Suntour Freewheel and I can't fault the shifting. That is with the Suntour Cyclone mech which is probably better than the Campagnolo mechs that were used later but either way, I can't see the change to a Shimano one making a significant change though I may be wrong. Mind you, the Suntour freewheel looks pretty much as new so I doubt I'll ever need to change it.

andrew_s

If you get a Shimano freewheel, it will have the sculpted teeth and ramps on the sprocket sides. It's these that improve shifting. They also mean that the sprockets wear out a lot faster. The improved shifting is to make indexing work, without the overshift and trimming that you do automatically with non-indexed shifters.

Suntour freewheels (or at least the old ones) were a very strong design. Anything as good will be expensive.

kettrinboy

Rolf F wrote:

kettrinboy wrote:

I replaced the original Suntour 6 speed freewheel on my 1982 Raleigh Record Ace with a 6 speed Shimano unit and it has improved the shifting no end , whether its used on bikes with friction shifters like mine or indexed it should work ok,Spa Cycles in Harrogate are good for old size chainrings and sprockets.

I'm curious - in what way has the change improved shifting? My 1980 Record Ace has a 6 speed Suntour Freewheel and I can't fault the shifting. That is with the Suntour Cyclone mech which is probably better than the Campagnolo mechs that were used later but either way, I can't see the change to a Shimano one making a significant change though I may be wrong. Mind you, the Suntour freewheel looks pretty much as new so I doubt I'll ever need to change it.

Well its definitely better going up the block, one gear in particular on the old block was a pig to engage without a lot of crunching, the Shimano has cured that probably because as said above the modern style cutaways on the cogs to help shifting.

ooermissus

So finally got round to doing this - new chain skipped badly with the old freewheel, but the change to a new Shimano 6-speed worked like a treat. Indexing is fine and shifting is much, much smoother. Thanks for the advice.

ooermissus

This bike has come back to me and it needs a new mech. I was looking at the Shimano RD-TX35 - but that;'s described as direct mount and doesn't really look the same.

What is direct mount? Will it be compatible with the old six speed suntour on this bike or do I need something else?

Just want something cheap as chips really - as although the guy does a load of miles on this bike, it's not worth more than about £2.50.

ugo.santalucia

ooermissus wrote:

This bike has come back to me and it needs a new mech. I was looking at the Shimano RD-TX35 - but that;'s described as direct mount and doesn't really look the same.

What is direct mount? Will it be compatible with the old six speed suntour on this bike or do I need something else?

Just want something cheap as chips really - as although the guy does a load of miles on this bike, it's not worth more than about £2.50.

This has an integrated hanger, by the look of it... won't work.. just get any derailleur... are you sure the cyclone is broken? These things last forever...

dennisn

Wow, this post brings back a few memories. Maybe I'll go downstairs and stare at my old 2 and 4 prong freewheel removers. I feel a bit of nostolgia coming over me.

By the way, weren't those the days when bicycle parts would fit on your bike pretty much without reguard to brand names or the brand names of things they fit on to?

ooermissus

It's not a cyclone Ugo - there was a brief diversion in the thread and Rolf put a picture up of his bike- but it is a suntour.

It's lost a jockey wheel - but the suntour ones seem to have a bigger bolt than the shimano ones, so I thought it would be easiest just to pop a new derailleur on.

Yes I see - I need one without a hanger like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shimano-Tourney ... B004JMZKR8

ooermissus

dennisn wrote:

Wow, this post brings back a few memories. Maybe I'll go downstairs and stare at my old 2 and 4 prong freewheel removers. I feel a bit of nostolgia coming over me.

Hah hah. I started working on this bike because I went cycling with a friend and could not bear the moans, groans, squeaks and shrieks his mount was making. Spent £30 on it and a couple of evenings (lbs had to wrench out the bottom bracket) and it was running nicely. Friend must have done a few thousand miles on it since then - probably with 20% less effort now he's not fighting corrosion, gunk, and general component failure.

dennisn

ooermissus wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Wow, this post brings back a few memories. Maybe I'll go downstairs and stare at my old 2 and 4 prong freewheel removers. I feel a bit of nostolgia coming over me.

Hah hah. I started working on this bike because I went cycling with a friend and could not bear the moans, groans, squeaks and shrieks his mount was making. Spent £30 on it and a couple of evenings (lbs had to wrench out the bottom bracket) and it was running nicely. Friend must have done a few thousand miles on it since then - probably with 20% less effort now he's not fighting corrosion, gunk, and general component failure.

Heh heh. At first I thought you meant the groans and shrieks were coming from him.

cycleclinic

No need to spend £80 on a Suntour freehweel that is over charging why there is still stock in places. I keep them in the shop NOS for a lot less than that. You can se a shimano, sunrace or Zenith 6 speed freewheels. They are all cheaper but then again an NOS Suntour Alpha is not expensive. A shimano 6 speed freewheel or the Sunrace one will be the cheapest if its shot. Freewheel teeth last a long time though.

You will be able to use any 5/6/7/8 speed rear mech if you are friction shifting.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

No need to spend £80 on a Suntour freehweel that is over charging why there is still stock in places. I keep them in the shop NOS for a lot less than that. You can se a shimano, sunrace or Zenith 6 speed freewheels. They are all cheaper but then again an NOS Suntour Alpha is not expensive. A shimano 6 speed freewheel or the Sunrace one will be the cheapest if its shot. Freewheel teeth last a long time though.

You will be able to use any 5/6/7/8 speed rear mech if you are friction shifting.

Would it be too much trouble to post a list of the Suntour NOS freewheels you have?

cycleclinic

I currently have NOS Suntour alpha 13-24T for £14. This is probably too cheap but they cost me alot less so I not that fussed.
I also will be getting NOS Suntour Prof 13-18T freehweels in next week for £30.
I can't remember if there are other but I do have two NOS Shimano 600 5 speed gold 13-17T freewheels in as well.
Lots of other old stuff too.

ugo.santalucia

And the 13-24 is 6 speed and has the splined pattern for the Shimano freewheel type tool?

cycleclinic

4 prong ugo.