scoobydrew

Hi Folks,

I have an older Bianchi Campione d'Italia that was originally equipped with Suntour "Quattro" 7 speed drivetrain components. The rear shifter is a "Accushift" click or friction hybrid type.

I'm looking to update the wheelset, but I am having issues tracking down a Suntour rear wheel, even when scouring the local Craigslist.

Anyone know if Shimano or any other 7 speed systems are compatible with Suntour systems?

dddd

Best to post photos of what you have. Any part numbers on the derailer or shifter? A photo might suggest whether these parts are worth trying to keep on board.

Are you wanting to change the gearing?

A Suntour rear wheel doesn't make too much sense to me, today's wheels would be Shimano/Sram or Campagnolo compatible. A much-cheaper modern wheelset could allow your freewheel to be mounted, if that is what you have.

Suntour's final year or two used a Shimano-compatible "Plug 'N Play" standard, which might require that you identify a date code on your componentry to check for the possibility of 7-speed Shimano cog spacing compatibility.

Again, emphasis on posting a photo or three of your bike's drivetrain.

wrk101

Is it a freewheel or cassette? Suntour cassettes were unique and have been out of production for over 20 years.

On free wheels I have used Shimano 7 speed replacement free wheels, indexed with my Superbe Pro RD and levers. Not perfect but they index OK.

I use a nice set of Superbe Pro hub wheels, freewheel style.

The Golden Boy 

I don't know of a Suntour group named Quattro. No idea where it would have fallen in the lineup - maybe something short lived around Blaze or something...

I've kludged together a few 6 speed Accushift/Shimano systems, but I haven't done too much messing around with Accushift 7 speed.

Google will be your friend, don't believe everything you read.

Otherwise, if you don't find what you're looking for, it's much easier finding a Shimano indexing group, or use friction or ratcheting shifters.

Best!

The Golden Boy 

Perhaps I should have Googled first...

The bike is a Bianchi Quattro. The Suntour and Model components on the bike were re-branded Quattro.

Looks around Sprint level stuff.

jomqkdgzphgphkx

These look to be midrange shifters from Suntour. There's very little information on their Quattro parts. One source indicates that they were used as stock parts on the Bianchi Campione Del Mondo (CDL) model, as well as explaining that the apparent Quattro groupset appears to be a replacement for the Cyclone groupo:
"Cyclone 7000 was spec'd on the CdI in 1987 and 1988. Quattro appeared on it in 1989, the year Cyclone was dropped from the SunTour line. It's possible that Bianchi requested a small production run of Cyclone but SunTour was hesitant to use the retired model name."

As well as this, another source indicates that this Quattro range of parts were a one-off, only having the name associated with them for the period that Bianchi needed a groupset for the above-mentioned bike, and was never an official Suntour groupset (indeed, it doesn't show up in the company's catalogues for this period, and seems to be pretty rare kit).

70sSanO

My understand is the Suntour Accushift 7 speed freewheel/cassette spacing is it is a mixed bag. The first four highest gear cogs (1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4) are spaced at 5.0mm center to center. The next three, (4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 7) are spaced at 4.8mm center to center. Ironically this is a mix of Shimano 7 speed and 8 speed freewheel/cassette spacing.

Since you need a new wheelset, first step it to figure out what range of gearing you want. Of note is significantly changing max cog size impacts the rear derailleur you can use. Also keep in mine that many 7 speed cassettes start with an 11t and that will not work on vintage (pre-Shimano C) freehubs.

It is important to note that some people run a Shimano spaced freewheel/cassette and live with the less than perfect indexing.

But if you go with a new wheelset and want to run a Shimano 7 speed cassette, you can make it work perfectly with your Suntour drivetrain. You just need to get a cassette with full cogs, remove the pin holding it together, and then just sand the 3 plastic spacers for the low gears from 3.15mm to 2.95mm. Install it and off you go.

But you can’t do the same with a freewheel, if you can even find one that will let you get to the cogs. The freewheel to threaded hub shoulder is at a set measurement and reducing the spacers will leave the cogs loose. That is what stopped me at one time when I wanted to space a 7 speed freewheel to work with 8 speed shifters.

John

obrentharris 

Seven-year-old thread.
Brent

70sSanO

Doh. I didn't notice the date.

John

Edit Added: Then again, how old does a thread have to be to be considered a C&V thread.

bikemig 

Well it only took 7 years to answer the OP's question . . .