Country: | Japan | Primary Focus: | Components |
Years of Operation: | 1912 - Early 1990's |
General Information |
SunTour (Maeda)
SunTour derailleurs have a two-letter date code. On rear derailleurs the code is stamped on the back side of the inner parallel arm. On front derailleurs it is stamped on the back side of the inner cage.
The first letter represents the year. Larry Osborn and I believe O (Oh) is 1972, V is 1979 and A is 1984. As with Shimano, the second letter is the month code, where A is January and L is December.
SunTour Year Code
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
1971 |
1972 |
1973 |
1974 |
1975 |
1976 |
1977 |
1978 |
1979 |
1980 |
1981 |
1982 |
1983 |
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
|
|
|
|
1984 |
1985 |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
|
|
|
|
SunTour Month Code
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
The earliest Suntour derailleur I have found with a code is marked OF. A rear derailleur marked OD (corresponding to April of 72) was reported by Leighton Walter. I have a bike that dates from between 1970 to 1972 that has the original SunTour derailleurs. These derailleurs do not have date codes on them, so I believe the coding started sometime between 1970 and April of 1972.
(source: vintage-trek.com) |
History |
SunTour or SR Suntour is a Japanese manufacturer of bicycle components. Begun in 1912 as Maeda Iron Works Company manufacturing freewheels and sprockets, the company began producing their version of the French pull-chain, rod-guided, touring derailleurs in the 1950s. In the 1960s SunTour invented the slant-parallelogram rear derailleur.
Nobuo Ozaki, the head of product development at Maeda, invented the slant parallelogram rear derailleur in 1964 and Maeda obtained worldwide patents on the design. For the next 20 years, Suntour produced technically superior derailleurs. Suntour's slant parallelogram broke the image of Japanese components as being cheap copies of European components.
In 1985, Suntour had about 50% of the U.S. derailleur market for quality bicycles. Over the decade, Suntour introduced more 120 new rear derailleurs and they still fell victim to the fast changing market. Suntour was too small to maintain the research and development needed to survive
The article Sunset for SunTour by Frank J. Berto is the best read for the rise, and then fall, of the company which can be read here. SunTour as it was once known ceased to exist some time in the 1990's before the name was sold. |
Component Groups |
Group Name - View Details | Quick Info | View All Components |
- 4050 | Sport & Recreation | List 2 Components |
- Alpha 3040 | Recreation | List 2 Components |
- Alpha 5000 | | List 3 Components |
- AR | | List 5 Components |
- ARx | Recreation | List 6 Components |
- BL - Blue Line | 1980 - , Road Race | List 4 Components |
- Blaze | Sport & Recreation | List 6 Components |
Group Family: Cyclone | Road Race | List 37 Components |
- Cyclone | 1976 - , Road Race | List 12 Components |
- Cyclone Mk-II | 1981 - , Road Race | List 4 Components |
- Cyclone (3rd Gen) | 1984 - , Road Race | List 13 Components |
- Cyclone 7000 | 1987 - , Road Race | List 15 Components |
- DLW | | List 1 Components |
- Edge | Sport & Recreation | List 8 Components |
- GPX | 1989 - 1991, Road Race | List 14 Components |
- Hero | | List 3 Components |
- Honor | | List 2 Components |
- Iwai | | List 1 Components |
- LePree | Sport & Recreation | List 5 Components |
- Ole | 1989 - 1989, Sport & Recreation | List 9 Components |
- PLG | | List 1 Components |
- Radius | 1990 - 1992, Sport & Recreation | List 10 Components |
- S-1 | | List 1 Components |
- Seven | | List 5 Components |
- SL | 1991 - 1994, Road Race | List 15 Components |
- Sprint | 1987 - 1990, Road Race | List 11 Components |
- Sprint 9000 | 1987 - 1990, Road Race | List 9 Components |
Group Family: Superbe | Road Race | List 84 Components |
- Superbe Track | Track | List 9 Components |
- Superbe | 1977 - 1985, Road Race | List 28 Components |
- Superbe Pro | 1981 - 1994, Road Race | List 48 Components |
- Superbe Comp | | List 2 Components |
- SVX | 1985 - , Sport & Recreation | List 5 Components |
- Trimec | | List 2 Components |
- V | | List 1 Components |
- Vx | | List 6 Components |
Group Family: XC | Mountain Bike | List 116 Components |
- XC Sport | Mountain Bike | List 1 Components |
- Dirt Component | 1983 - , Mountain Bike | List 0 Components |
- XC | 1984 - , Mountain Bike | List 16 Components |
- XC 9000 | 1987 - 1989, Mountain Bike | List 28 Components |
- XC Sport 7000 | 1987 - 1988, Mountain Bike | List 7 Components |
- XCD 6000 | 1988 - 1989, Touring & MTB | List 17 Components |
- X-1 Chroma | 1989 - , Mountain Bike | List 4 Components |
- XC-Master | 1989 - 1990, Mountain Bike | List 9 Components |
- XCE / XC Expert | 1989 - , Mountain Bike | List 9 Components |
- X-1 | 1990 - 1993, Mountain Bike | List 3 Components |
- XC Comp | 1990 - 1993, Mountain Bike | List 5 Components |
- XC Pro | 1990 - , Mountain Bike | List 23 Components |
- XC LTD | 1991 - , Touring & MTB | List 6 Components |
Frame Parts - Recent Added / Updated |
Name | Category | Added / Updated |
SunTour GS | Drop Outs & Fork Ends | 09/13/2016 |
SunTour | Drop Outs & Fork Ends | 10/20/2013 |
SunTour SDB-EF120 | Drop Outs & Fork Ends | 12/11/2011 |
SunTour GT | Drop Outs & Fork Ends | 12/11/2011 |
SunTour Frame Parts List |
Photo Selection from Recently Updated Items |
|
Additional Resources |
Catalog Name | Source | File Size | Date Added |
SunTour 1980 Comparison Table | YellowJersey.org | N/A | 2/20/2008 |
SunTour 1982 Superbe | YellowJersey.org | N/A | 2/20/2008 |
SunTour 1989 Product Lines | YellowJersey.org | N/A | 2/20/2008 |
SunTour 1992 Product Lines | YellowJersey.org | N/A | 2/20/2008 |
Catalog Scans for GPX, Superbe and others. | EquusBicycle.com | N/A | 2/19/2008 |
SunTour 1987 Dealer Catalog | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/12/2009 |
SunTour Technical Bulletin #21 - Accushift | VeloBase | 3,031kB | 2/15/2010 |
SunTour 1984 Cyclone | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/9/2009 |
SunTour 1987 Cyclone 7000 | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/9/2009 |
SunTour 1984 Superbe Pro | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/12/2009 |
SunTour 1976 Parts Catalog | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/12/2009 |
SunTour 1984 XC | Velo-Pages.com | N/A | 6/12/2009 |
1983-1990's SunTour MTB parts listing & catalog pages | mombat.org | N/A | 12/19/2010 |
SunTour New Winner Freewheels | VeloBase | 3,060kB | 8/7/2011 |
SunTour Catalog (Japanese) | The Bicycle Info Project | N/A | 10/17/2011 |
Suntour Through 1988 Catalog | Don Buska | N/A | 10/22/2017 |
Suntour 1988 Ed. No. 89 Bicycle Component Catalog | Don Buska | N/A | 10/30/2017 |
Suntour 1991 Product Line | Don Buska | N/A | 10/30/2017 |
Suntour 1991 Bicycle Equipment Catalog | | N/A | 10/30/2017 |
Suntour 1994 (SR Suntour) Bicycles Equipment Sales Manu | Don Buska | N/A | 10/30/2017 |
Sprint 9000 Group Lealet | Don Buska | N/A | 1/2/2019 |
Resource Link | Category | Details | |
80's SunTour Catalogs | Brand Specific Websites | Hosted by YellowJersey.org |
Suntour Bicycle Componentry | Brand Specific Websites | Photographs of various Suntour components |