Suntour with Shimano Levers OR 6/9

[Barrowman]

I have a rather nice Suntour rear mech. Thinking in terms of using it with 6 speed Shimano Index Levers .

Will it index on a Shimano 6 speed freewheel?

Or I also have a 9 speed Shimano 105. Would that work with 6 speed levers / freewheel or am I getting into Narrow Chain territory here??

[rjb]

Your suntour mech may index over 8 speed cassette with a Shimano 9 speed lever.

Or even a 6 speed block using 7 speed Shimano levers.

Info extracted from this thread. viewtopic.php?t=123321#p1513925

Let us all know if it compatible

[gaz]

Pre-indexed Suntour, Accushift Suntour or more recent SR Suntour?

IME Shimano 8 speed shifters will not index an 8 speed Accushift Suntour rear mech over a 7 speed Shimano block.

IME Shimano 8 speed shifters will index an 8 speed Accushift Suntour rear mech over a 6 speed Sachs-Maillard block which has probably been respaced to match a 7.

Clean and crisp shifts (most of the time ).

[gaz]

A 9 speed 105 rear mech has the same shift ratio as 6 speed Shimano levers. I'd expect a 6/7/8 speed chain to pass through the cage of a 9 speed rear mech without alteration, I have one bike set up like that. A 9 speed rear mech from a higher groupset was a relatively common off-the-peg "upgrade" to 8 speed cycles BITD.

[531colin]

It’ll all work on friction

[MartinC]

It’ll all work on friction

I initially read that as "it's all a work of friction". I should go to Specsavers.