Here is the catalog of Suntour in 1982. Suntour had grown up in a previous decade. We can say that the time of glory which supported professional team with Superbe-Pro in Europe and overwhelms the MTB part market in the world along with SHIMANO in the XC series, had begun in the first half of 1980s.

The symbol mark of the red triangle has appeared in 1981. It symbolized below things.
1. The triangle shape expressed stability and precision and reliability.
2. Two lines expressed ascending current.
3. The red triangle and the black logo expressed the sun and passion and challenge.


MTB parts didn't appear in the catalog yet. However, there were various products such as several kinds of derailleur (Superbe-Pro first model, Cyclone Mark 2, BL, Vx), 7 speed freewheel (Micro-light, New winner), chain (Ultra 6), and so on, in the catalog.

Enjoy the catalogue of 24 pages including the cover.

These were the front cover and the back cover. The front page was simple. However, it was also powerful because the symbol mark was arranged effectively.

The detailed explanation about the trait of Suntour continued through 5 pages from here. It started from Slant pantograph which was a patent of Suntour in those days. It kept clearance between the tooth of freewheel and guide pulley (upper side), improved shifting performance. However, I had doubted about that, because the clearance was not always equal because the sizes of each sprocket were different, and moreover Suntour had used single tension system.
But I also felt that rear derailleur of Suntour could change the gear quickly and precisely in the close ratio. So I always prefer Suntour.

From 1980 to 1981, Shimano which has been the rival of Suntour had promoted AX series which had a conception of the aerodynamics. However, it had ended in failure. Suntour announced Cyclone-Mark 2 with the concept of Micro-light and aerodynamics, emphasized the aerodynamic effect by the miniaturization of the body.

Several interesting parts such as Power shifter, New-winner, and Ultra-6 chain were introduced in this page. One of them was equipped with the self-adjusting mechanism. It adjusted front wire delicately when the rear derailleur had moved, then prevented the derailleur blade and the chain touching.

The Superbe pedal had a compatible plates, could change the plate between the track-racing pedal and the road-racing pedal. This plate has been sold large quantity at bicycle shop in Tokyo even now.

The interesting parts in this page were Mighty click system and IC change system. Mighty click was so-called index system which is popular nowadays. It was same as Shimano positron system, was produced for junior and beginner. Later, it developed to Accu-shift (accurate shifter) and STI along with Shimano product. However, long before this, the console type gear shifter which was attached on the top tube was popular for the junior sports bicycle. I used to yearn for it.
IC change system was a device which could change the gear without crank rotation by attaching freewheel system into chain wheel. I'd just remembered that Mr. Tomokazu Miura (Japanese famous actor) appeared in the advertisement of National junior sports bicycle which was equipped with IC change system. In the ad, it was called FF system (front-free system).

On the right side, there is a gear capacity table which was guided from the combination of rear derailleur and fork-end of Suntour. I prepared the large photograph for those who have interest in this derailleur. Click below.

Here is the capacity table.

In comparison with Shimano Dura-ace, Suntour had associated with other small companies such as Sugino, Sanshin-Matsumoto, Yoshigai, Mikashima, Kusuki, then produced Superbe and Superbe Pro as a racing group-set. In a sense it was natural that there were many designs which I had seen somewhere.

The weight of Superbe Pro rear derailleur was 169 grams. It was one of the lightest models in those days.
By the way, the brake and the gear shifter were similar to Campagnolo. The reason might be that the design of Campagnolo was so excellent in those days.

Large image of left side.
Large image of right side.

This is Superbe without "Pro". The chain wheel was almost same as Sugino Mighty-compe. However, Sugino already announced "Super Mighty" which had new design (5-arm). The stem might be Kusuki, or Yoshigai? Let me know if you have any idea. The pedal was also similar to Mikashima Unique.

Large image of left side.
Large image of right side.

From the right page, the products other than Superbe Pro were introduced. These are Cyclone and Cyclone Mark II. Cyclone was announced as pure racing parts at first. However, there were long cage models in the lineup as you see. Was it made as a high grade touring parts?

Large image of left side.
Large image of right side.

BL, Road Vx, ARX were used for the middle class sports bicycle of the mass-production maker. There must have been a number of cyclists who had used them. Road Vx seemed a succeeding model of V-lux.

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Large image of right side.

General parts were introduced from this page. The rear derailleur V-GT, Seven, AG and front derailleur NSL, AG, Seven, Compe-V, Spurt and several gear sifters appeared on the page.

Large image of left side.
Large image of right side.

These were several kinds of free-wheel. The cassette type did not appear yet. Suntour made it possible to attach the freewheel of 7-speed to 126mm frame-end with using narrow type Ultra 6 chain. We can recognize the design concept of Suntour which focused on compatibility from it. I think it should be evaluated as former model of present freewheel of 9-speed and 10-speed.

Large image of left side.
Large image of right side.

This is sealed BB which is popular now. I had ordered a touring bicycle which the rotation part was maintenance free with using sealed BB, Stronglight 49D cranks, Mikashima Sylvan touring-pedal which had sealed bearing, and Sprint hub.
Before the sealed bearing was produced, I used to decompose every rotation parts several times a year and re-grease them.
Several frame ends and spoke disc were introduced on the right side.

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Large image of right side.

The parts of junior sports bicycle, several kinds of small parts and tools, were introduced in the last two pages.

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Large image of right side.