gna

All right, be patient with me--I'm normally in the English 3 speed thread. These derailleurs are new territory to me.

I found a Suntour V GT Luxe long cage derailleur at the bike recyclers and bought it for $5. I took it apart and cleaned and greased it. It seems to be a very nice derailleur: SunTour V GT Luxe derailleur (1500)

I want to replace the Suntour AR on my Raleigh Wyoming with this one. Everything I've read says I need to break the chain or remove the tension pulley to change a derailleur, but from looking at them, one doesn't need to do that with a Suntour. It looks pretty simple, honestly. Or am I missing something? The tension pulley can be removed easily, and the cage for it does pivot.

mboro1876

You don't need to break the chain if you can remove the pulley wheel. But, a nice feature of many suntour RD's possibly including yours, is that one of the cage plates is 'split'. the chain then be removed and installed (to/from the RD if not necessarily the front derailleur too) without breaking the chain or removing a pulley wheel.

Slightspeed

I love my VGT Luxe, and have two of them on Raleigh Super Courses. Before I realized that the split cage was a "feature" it annoyed me that the chain would pop out of the cage on wheel changes. With a new bike build, my first, there was a lot of trial and error, wheels on and wheels off, and I never got used to keeping track of the chain when I removed the wheel. In operation, moving down the road, they work great and allow the use of a 6 speed 34t Megarange freewheel.

VGT Luxe on my '73 Super Course.

VGT Luxe on my '78 Super Course

artclone

You can remove the chain (or even the derailleur) without breaking the chain or removing pulley wheel on those. You aren't missing anything. Great design. Suntour Cyclone and a few others are the same.

gna

Thanks everyone.

Nice Super Courses

Yes, got a Mega Range 6 speed 34T freewheel as well. Slowly turning it into a touring bike.

mboro1876

Another tip: give them as long a chain as you can, maybe even to the point of letting the small-small combo rub a little if necessary. These suntour derailleur are wonderful and the only thing that could let you down ‘spontaneously’ is the main pivot spring: they are old pieces of steel and can snap if made to bend too far. So I always give them a lot of chain, enough to make even big-big not a huuuge stretch, and bear that little spring in mind when shifting. With normal good gear technique you can keep it safe.

my tourer is currently being rebuilt, and I use a vx-GT.

Slightspeed

When I built the gold Super Course above, I was surprised that it took the whole KMC 8 speed chain. Usually I need to remove a couple of links. I did on the green one above, but it is a triple with 32t granny up front, a 40 middle, and a 50t big ring. Both have 34t Megarange freewheels and KMC 8 speed chains. The gold one has a normal 52/42 double. Both seem to ride and shift great, though the triple sometimes gets hung between chain rings, usually due to pilot error.

mboro1876

Yeah, with long wheelbase and a biggish ring up front I soon use up a 116L chain. the rebuild is going for a more compact double type of thing so apart from anything else I’ll be able to shop more easily for chains 😄. I agree with you that I’ve never had any *shifting* issue from a long chain... at most, the small small rubs and it reminds you not to use it!

ryansu

It is a nice SunTour feature but for future chain purchases I highly recommend a quick-link chain like the SRAM 8 speed chains -which work fine on 5-8 speed bikes, or KMC. I have developed a deep and unreasonable hatred for pin connector chains. (looking at you Shimano). Have fun with the touring bike @gna