Suntour XC Pro - tell me more

[RobMac]

I have a XC Pro on the DOGS BOLX and I've alway found the shifting at the rear rather ordinary. Everything else works great though.

Keep the cables & mech well lubricated, Ive done 1000's of miles
on mine, off road/on road in Scotland.
Still on the original cable :shock:

 

[andrewl]

I have a XC Pro on the DOGS BOLX and I've alway found the shifting at the rear rather ordinary. Everything else works great though.

Keep the cables & mech well lubricated, Ive done 1000's of miles
on mine, off road/on road in Scotland.
Still on the original cable :shock:

I've played with it a little bit, but it's never given me more than 3 perfect gears out of 7. It's almost like the spacing on the cluster is all wrong.

 

[IDB1]

The seatposts are an underrated classic. Get them (relatively) cheap while you still can.

Was looking at some last night but they all seem to be 26.8

 

[thummie]

I've played with it a little bit, but it's never given me more than 3 perfect gears out of 7. It's almost like the spacing on the cluster is all wrong.[/quote]

That doesn't sound right. An old sticky cable will make shifting between the two top gears vague, but it sounds like something else is wrong with your set up. Have you check rear hanger alignment and B tension?

 

[drbond1978]

Just (this morning) swapped out some depressing stx pods for some SS7s and xc pro 8 speed thumbs - working very nicely indeed over a shimano 7 speed block with a long cage stx rc mech (the next item that needs swapping...)

They have a nicer more positive click that the Deore XTs and are lighter. SS7s really are amazing too - think the xc pro brake levers are basically the same.

I seem to remember there are issues with using the older 7spd version with shimano blocks - so maybe make sure they are marked 8spd.

 

[Elev12k]

They look nicer finished than XTs.

I use them on my 8s XTR Yo - no problem
I use them on my 7s XT Panasonic - flawless

I'll have to add to this that the thumbies I use on this two bikes are both the later '7/8' issue. I tried to set up an earlier 7s example icw XC Pro rear mech, but with Shimano cassette on my Phoenix and hadn't much luck, but gave up almost immediately. I'd opted for the more puristic friction mode anyway.

 

[mynchiboy]

There's nothing wrong with suntour xc pro as others have mentioned, as others have said most xc pro parts are on a par with shimano XT, if not XTR. They were also the first to really exploit the advantages of compact gearing with microdrive and iirc offer 8 speed shifting on mid range bikes.It was a combination of poor marketing and sloppy timing of product launch that was their undoing...

There's a really interesting piece on suntour and their demise on this link, no doubt others have already seen this, but I still enjoy looking at it from time to time:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/page35.htm

I've also had a combination of suntour and shimano bits on bikes and again, no problems to report. The switchable 7/8 speed xc pro thumbshifters are especially cool, so much so that I've a pair hoarded for a rainy day

 

[andrewl]

That doesn't sound right. An old sticky cable will make shifting between the two top gears vague, but it sounds like something else is wrong with your set up. Have you check rear hanger alignment and B tension?

The hanger and the rest of the setup is spot on so there is nothing obvious as to why it doesn't work. The shifting does feel pretty stiff hence a cable and housing change before I play with it again.

 

[yo-Nate-y]

I also run 8 speed XC Pro thumbshifters with an XTR mech and cassette and it works perfectly. They are more refined/better finished than the workhorse-style Shimano XTs.

The best thing is the front shifter though---it does a really cool ratcheting that the Shimano doesn't that I really like. Def the highlight for me.

Do the seven speed XC Pro shifters have a ghost click? I run seven speed XT thumbies with, again, an XTR mech and cassette on another bike, but if you are going to search them out, I'd say the 8 speed Suntours are a better bet. They have a little mark that says "7/8" with a orange dot over the "8."

 

[MikeD]

SS7s really are amazing too - think the xc pro brake levers are basically the same.

Only in the sense of "entirely different"

XC Pro shifters (and brake levers) lovely. Suntour rear mechs not so much - mine always started off clunky, experienced a brief window of smoothness when the pivots got just sloppy enough to make up for the lack of a floating top jockey, and then wore out ;-)