Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
Hotwheels.":sfoskz18 said:
This^^. Suntour thumbshifters are the sweetest ever. Why go w/ anything else?
1994 Suntour ErgoTec Shifter experience?
- Thread starter ob1kadrobe
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This^^. Suntour thumbshifters are the sweetest ever. Why go w/ anything else?
ob1kadrobe
Devout Dirtbag
I am going to give them a deep test run soon. Looking forward to the experience.
sksmith2500
Dirt Disciple
It will be a few weeks before I get mine together to try them out. I have to get the wheels built and get the NOS Control Tech bar (Saturday) and rear derailleur (Friday) delivered.
I did put the NOS Accushift cables in them today. I need to find my scale to weigh them, but they are not heavy at all.
I did put the NOS Accushift cables in them today. I need to find my scale to weigh them, but they are not heavy at all.
leightonwalter
Retro Newbie
I rebuilt a Gazelle city bike that had one for the rear derailleur. It worked really well. It's like Shimano trigger shifters, but you don't have to remember which one is up or down. They're also superior to standard twist shifters, which are sometimes tough to grab, and have a sort of spongy feel. In all, the Ergotecs worked well for me. Fairly precise shifts (if not super fast), solid build quality, totally intuitive action.
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Great to have some feedback on them. Anyone else? I want to try them.
leightonwalter
Retro Newbie
My pleasure. As indicated, I've only used a left-hand (rear derailleur) Ergotec. I'm not sure how the front would work, particularly for a triple chainring setup. The Shimano rapidfire works well because you can nuance things separately up and down, and on the front, the challenges aren't the same. For the Ergotec, the up/down aspects work via the same rotating toggle shifter (don't know what else to call it), which might diminish the ability to fine tune things. But what the heck, give them a try!
sksmith2500
Dirt Disciple
My few weeks turned into a few months.
Got the bike finished but haven't taken it out yet. On the stand, they seem to work fine with the XC-Pro front / rear derailleurs.
Also not heavy, but I forgot to weigh them.
Edit: From VeloBase.com
For comparison, M900 XTR brake/shifter pods weigh 663 grams, according to the old BikePro.com archives.
Got the bike finished but haven't taken it out yet. On the stand, they seem to work fine with the XC-Pro front / rear derailleurs.
Also not heavy, but I forgot to weigh them.
Edit: From VeloBase.com
Weight: | 263 grams (Actual), Both shifters, with uncut inner derailleur cable |
Last edited:
Resurfacing this post..
I used to race these from 1994 through 1996 (XC races) . I was running SunTour since 1991, changed to XCPro MD / speeds in the summer of 1992 and then upgraded to 8 speeds in late 1993. I learned to ride with RapidFire and X-Press so I never really appreciated thumbies (my fault, i know).
These were a revelation. I used to ride with the index finger resting on the front paddle and the middle on the brake lever. Braking was a thing of the middle finger with these, and the index was used for upshifts at the rear or downshifts at the front. I got so used to this that still to this day I find myself using middle fingers to brake on occasion, despite having raced DH and Enduro the last 25 years.
I even modified them to work with V-Brakes later on, by threading a bit of a bar into the channel meant to be used to load the brake cable, like that I reduced the leverage of the system enough to used them with a DiaCompe VBrake set. I only moved on from XC Pro in 1998 when getting spares was getting hard
They are bloody brilliant. I seem to remeber the patent was filed to Nobuo Ozaki's name, and it was probably his last strike of genius at a company that was being folded once Sakae was established in Taiwan.
I used to race these from 1994 through 1996 (XC races) . I was running SunTour since 1991, changed to XCPro MD / speeds in the summer of 1992 and then upgraded to 8 speeds in late 1993. I learned to ride with RapidFire and X-Press so I never really appreciated thumbies (my fault, i know).
These were a revelation. I used to ride with the index finger resting on the front paddle and the middle on the brake lever. Braking was a thing of the middle finger with these, and the index was used for upshifts at the rear or downshifts at the front. I got so used to this that still to this day I find myself using middle fingers to brake on occasion, despite having raced DH and Enduro the last 25 years.
I even modified them to work with V-Brakes later on, by threading a bit of a bar into the channel meant to be used to load the brake cable, like that I reduced the leverage of the system enough to used them with a DiaCompe VBrake set. I only moved on from XC Pro in 1998 when getting spares was getting hard
They are bloody brilliant. I seem to remeber the patent was filed to Nobuo Ozaki's name, and it was probably his last strike of genius at a company that was being folded once Sakae was established in Taiwan.
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