The mechanic was boh right and wrong. Suntour shifted as well with all Suntour parts but they were unable to control the OEM as well as Shimano and they didn't shift without the proper chain. That is no longer a huge issue as chains have come a long way.
I have Suntour XC_Expert derailleurs and thumb shifters on my Sam Hillborn with a SRAM P-350 11-30 8 speed cassette on DT Swiss 370 hubs. They indexes very well if you know how to set them up. Suntour systems shifted at a different point in the movement of the derailleur compared to Shimano and if you set the derailleur up like a Shimano then it will not shift right. With Suntour psrts on a Shimano/SRAM cassette you have to get the derailleur to pull the chain off the cog sooner. To do that turn the "B" screw all the way in and move the derailleur all the way back and then adjust the shifting. Ignore what the instructions say about lining up the upper pulley with the cogs. You may need to back off on the "B" screw a bit to get it right bit it will work and mine has stayed in adjustment. I have one shift where I get a noticable "Clunk" when down shifting but I have no ghost shiting and no chain rattle. I have well over 3000 miles on this system and am on the second chain Interestingly, when I take the bike into a bike shop they always mess up the settings. I don't letthem change my derailleur cables or adjust the rear derailleur. On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 10:15 PM, jandrews_nyc <jasonaschwa...@gmail.com>wrote: > Hi > After reading with interest the previous post about going down in the > number of sprockets from 9 to 8 to 7, I decided to post and share what > I've been dealing with. > First of all, I have a 8 speed Hillborne with Silver shifters built up > by Riv that shifts perfectly...pretty much all the time. > > About 6 months ago, I purchased off this list a used Bleriot frameset > and have slowly been building it up on a budget. I'm finally done but > am having some shifting issues. By the way, this is the first bike I > ever completely built up all the way from installing headset and BB to > adjusting derailleurs, etc. So it was a great learning experience. > > It's built up as an old man townie 14 speed with the VO wide range > compact double crankset....the one that's the TA ripoff. > I used a budget Shimano 7 speed cassette with the appropriate 4.5mm > spacer for the current Deore rear hub. > I am using some vintage Suntour handlebar thumbshifters that I > purchased NOS about 2 years ago and used on another bike..so they have > plenty of life left in them. The crankset is 46T / 30T and the 7 > speed cassette is 13-28. > Initially I planned on using the Index setting for the shifters as > they are "7 speed", but I could never get accurate shits. I did speak > to one mechanic who said Suntours of that era never shifted well and > that's what brought them down. I don't know if I believe that. > So, since I normally ride friction, I've been content to do that. > but... > The bike slips out of gear often enough to make me think there is some > problem. Usually its in third largest cog on the cassette. and the > second smallest. I do have to do a decent amount of trimming when in > the large chainring which is what I'm in 85% of the time. > The little 30T front chainring is reserved for climbing. > > Also one more thing...The VO crank and the recommended 118 BB didn't > work initially on the Bleriot. The crankarms would hit the chainstays > so I used another very long BB that I had. It's 127.5! I think the > ideal BB spindle length for this combo would be 122-ish. > I don't know if that is contributing to the shifting slipping, but it > seems to inconsequential to me when I'm riding because that crankset > is so low-Q to begin with. > > Any suggestions? I am thinking of maybe taking one more link out of > the chain. > > Photos below: > > http://gallery.me.com/jasonaschwartz#100082 > > Thanks, > Jason > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Fai Mao The Blogger who sometimes responds to comments -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
