But this second generation ‘Tech’ design had a fatal flaw. SunTour had decided to improve on the Design of the Le Tech by cunningly fitting the spring that tensions the third pivot inside the guide pulley. This meant that the guide pulley ran on a large diameter centre - and this rapidly attracted dirt. When the dirt got in, the pulley bearing became as rough as a badger’s arse and often jammed. To compound the problem the pulley was exceedingly difficult to remove for cleaning or for replacing. SunTour were inundated with expensive warranty claims, and, worse, lost the reputation for bomb-proof reliability that they had carefully and patiently built up over the decades.

In fact the MounTech had a couple of other flaws. The first was that it was seriously heavy and the second was that, like all three pivot designs, it rapidly went out of alignment and had a tendency to throw itself recklessly into the spokes of the back wheel. Like the Huret Duopar, it was God’s gift to wheel builders everywhere.

It may not be what you meant to imply, but this bike didn't have stem shifters. It had SunTour downtube shifters that mounted via a single screw on top of the downtube. Much like SunTour's 'Symmetric' shifters, but without the trimming mechanism.