I’ve always wondered about their history. The Suntours were popular enough by the mid 1970’s that I bought a pair. Installed them on my Motobecane Grand Touring around 1976. I surely learned about them through magazines. I don’t remember Shimano offering bar-ends at that time - only SunTour. Mine came with metal housing to reach the downtube bosses and had a very fine tooth ratcheting system. Loved them and have had a few other pair since including SIS MicroShift and Dura Ace. Currently running Dura Ace on my gravel/CX bike. I don’t like them on CX as they get sometimes get bumped on dismounts or flyovers. Hard to beat them for touring.