The earlier ones were suntour AX.....as far as I have been able to suss out.
Early 84 advert (also cited as june 84 in bike action magazine), with suntour.....by the end of 84 they had gone to deerhead......they only started in 83......the advert cant be much earlier as its in the bluemels involvement period.
But as with most things, the facts seem a little hazy...I approached Brian for an informal interview for retrobike, to try to clear some of this up, but it went kinda dead.....pitty as it would have been interesting to hear some stories and possibly see some photos.......oh and clear up some of this stuff