Cycling UK Forum

A long buried memory surfaced today and I had to bring it up on this forum.
How many of us used these freewheels?
I did; the 7 speed ones. I liked the ability to get exactly the ratios I wanted and remember quite distinctly the Suntour service board in my LBS with pegs for every cog and position.
Now then, did anyone ever have an issue with these cogs breaking teeth?
I had great service life from mine for a few years. Cogs would wear and I would replace each of them like-for-like or with a more suitable tooth count if my fitness or chosen ride terrain changed. Then suddenly, on any new cogs I bought, teeth were breaking off on a regular basis. I did complain but the proprietor said ‘tough luck’ in as many words. A better rider might have taken the failure as a compliment on their power but a waif like me just felt conned.
I think things improved but I can’t be sure as I soon went over to Shimano cassette hubs.

I’ve two bikes with SunTour freewheels fitted and a box full of sprockets etc. Never had an issue with breaking teeth.

I broke a sprocket on a Regina freewheel. I was riding a hilly event at the Harrogate Festival of Cycling, and was unceremoniously dumped in the road on a hill, in front of a handful of spectators. The sprocket actually split, so it just span on the freewheel.

My LBS had a Regina sprocket board like the Suntour one you mention, and replaced the broken one for me. I also remember the board at the old Condor shop, across the road from the current one.

Yes, I had one break some teeth off the first time I used it. I never had a problem with Regina ones, and the Regina CX ones were very nice indeed!

I use Suntour cogs as chainrings in the third and fourth positions to get low gears, with Mountain Tamer. I heavily rely on them in winter, and I even fiddled with their teeth on my own to improve shifting. The cogs have worked very well for me.

fastpedaller wrote: ↑27 Oct 2024, 11:14pm Yes, I had one break some teeth off the first time I used it. I never had a problem with Regina ones, and the Regina CX ones were very nice indeed!

Thanks.
Can you remember when that was?

I too used to use Sun Tour freewheels. Maybe I was lucky, but the only cogs I ever broke were the threaded ones on well-used 'perfect' model freewheels. Of my large collection of 'new winner' freewheel bodies, only one shows any sign of being badly-made. This freewheel body has some crumbling damage to the screw threads, suggesting that either the steel composition or the heat treatment was slightly amiss

& Winner pro. With those blue sprocket/spacer boards in the shop. I swear they must of sent the dealers away to do some sort of course so that they knew how to advise on all the permutations!

I used them a lot. I rcall one freewheel where all the teeth on my most used 2 sprockets cracked, with some breaking off. I assume a batch of duff heat treatment(?), though that isn't somethng I would associate with Japanese products.
I eventually moved on to Suntour Ultra 7 freewheels, which were fine.

I seem to recall having maillard 6 speed block that had a sponge inset so you could oil the internal bearings. 52/42 x 12-21. God knows how I got up the hills, youth perhaps?

PT1029 wrote: ↑28 Oct 2024, 2:17pm...I eventually moved on to Suntour Ultra 7 freewheels, which were fine.

IIRC, 'ultra' was just Sun Tour's shorthand for the compact (~5 mm) spacing. Hitherto, 5/6s freewheels commonly used ~5.5 mm spacing. At any one time there would have been several different 'ultra 7' freewheels available.

I had a Suntour New winner 6sp on my Mercian in the old days with the Campag Record hubs.
Upgraded to Campag cassettes.

The ST NW 6p was given away to a mate down the road from here as he needed a new wheel and stuff.
As it turns out, his Raleigh Record Ace had a 27" front wheel and a 700c rear wheel. He didn't seem to mind!

I think .......... and I empathise "think" ............ I have a collection of ST NW sprockets in the shed. I must check them out.

I recently built up a New Winner 14-28 7sp from sprockets I had in my spares box to go on my 82 Bianchi Rekord 748 (sic) as I was beginning to struggle with the previous 13-24 6sp iteration and the 52/42 Gipiemme crankset. The "new" set-up works flawlessly.

I never had any problems with any sprockets (or freewheel bodies) breaking.

I did have to retire a SunTour XC rear derailleur last year - after 36 years of hard use on my MTB... The FD on that particular bike is still going strong, as are the Cyclone hubs and the XC pedals. The matching roller cam brakes are stashed away in a box. My tourer still has an ARX FD and top-mount Superbe shifters doing sterling service.

IME SunTour stuff is very well made.