Advertised rear derailleur freewheel capacities for the most part were just that - the largest capacity freewheel that would work on the average bike without any (or much) trial and error adjustments.
Suntour V and V-Luxe short arm derailleurs were rated at a maximum 24T rear sprocket but back in the 70's they could handle 26T on any bike no problem - but that was the maximum.
Most of our casual rider customers wanted an RD to replace the Simplex Prestige or Huret Allvit that came on their bikes. They needed to handle "Alpine Gearing" - 10 speeds with a 14-28T FW and 52-42T or 52-40T chainrings.
The mid length Suntour VT would have been perfect but they weren't readily available so we had to use the the long arm VGT derailleurs with an overkill 34T FW capacity. They worked great, never a complaint.
BTW, Suntour V and V-Luxe RDs sold for $6.00 while the VGT RDs were $7.00-$8.00. Campy NRs sold for about $29.00 at the time.
Suntour Cyclones, there were at least 3 different versions of the original Suntour Cyclone RDs. The first one that came out in early 1975 could handle a maximum of 26T but was rated at 24T. The other two were rated at 24T and that was the maximum they could handle.
Suntour listed 3 different Horizontal Dropout Hanger Lengths: 24mm, 26mm, 28mm plus 30mm for their Vertical Dropouts. See chart below.
Variations in the Hanger Length gave different RD capacities plus many other makes and models of rear dropouts had unpublished lengths.
Throw all those things together and you'll get variations that don't match any published specs.
In June 1975 I got 2 sets from the first shipment of Suntour Cyclones to hit the US. They first appeared as vaporware in the trade rags in the fall of 1974.
I put one set on my then all Campy bike running a 13-26T 5 speed FW. It worked perfectly out of the box. The only issue was the hookie 1st generation Cyclone shift levers. Once I did modifications they worked fine too.
I still have the other set NIB!
I ran the first ones on 3 different bikes over the years. Late one afternoon as I was climbing up a short grade to finish my ride, some guy on a zoomie plastic bike passed me.
I threw it into my lowest gear - 26T x 45T to chase him down and the bike came to a sickening sliding stop. I'd sucked my all time favorite derailleur! The cage, the parallelogram and the mounting bolt broke. The derailleur hanger was bent in at 45°.
First time I'd sucked a RD since maybe 1973, a Simplex Prestige on a Gitane Gran Sport!
verktyg
