So with the recent acquisition of a metric ass-ton of Suntor components (an d subsequent sale of many of them) I decided to keep some for myself, and this is some of what I kept.
Today I installed some of it, and it is as follows.
Suntour PowerShift downtube shifters
http://s64.photobucket.com/
Five to 7-speed conversion. Maillard 700 Compact freewheel, 19-18-17-16-1 4-13-12 gears, OEM Maillard hub
http://s64.photobucket.com/
Upgraded Suntour Sprint rear derailleur cogs to Suntour Racing sealed beari ng cogs
http://s64.photobucket.com/
All NOS never mounted.
The factory chain wasn't too fond of the 7-speed setup so I had to put the old Shimano HG 8-speed chain off my Ciocc that was replaced with a Dura-Ace chain. It works quite well, however it isn't period-correct (and most of the stuff on here isn't, but the HG chain is barely a year old whereas a ll the Suntour stuff is from the mid 80's) but I know nothing about period- correct chains so if anyone wants to point me in the right direction, fee l free to do so.
I actually assembled the 7-speed cluster myself from the plethora of cogs l ying around in boxes in the stash. I could have gone with something more hi ll-friendly like a 25 or 32t first gear on down to a 14 but wanted somethin g small, light and close ratio with plenty of top end. I was easily toppi ng out the 14t factory 5-speed GT-1100 "Schwinn Approved" set, which I th ink may have actually been manufactured by either Maillard or Huret, sinc e the design is similar to the 700 Compact I installed and both are made in France.
If it wern't for the sale of all of the derailleurs I would have kept the S uberbe Pro stuff and put that on here and made an awesome build but the cur rent setup works and it works very well.
Total mod list:
76' Schwinn Superior
Suntour Cyclone II front deralleur Suntour Sprint rear derailleur Suntour Racing sealed rear derailleur pulleys Maillard 700 compact freewheel 19-18-17-16-14-13-12 7-speed conversion Suntour PowerShift downtube shifters
I'm quite impressed with this build so far and plan to do a complete restor ation much like I did with the Ciocc, which is getting a new 23-11 9-spee d Dura-Ace rear cassette soon.
Next to do, not sure now. Maybe new tires, these ones look like someone did a huge burnout on them. New brake levers are in order, possibly Camp y. I would like to stay French / Jap like the original Superior, although the 82 came with Campy Gran Sport groupsets. I'm liking the French Maillar d freewheel so far.
One other thing, I noticed this frame does not have cable guides under th e bottom bracket, was this normal or am I missing something here?
The only problem I'm going to have with this restoration is finding Superio r decals, if anyone has a hookup let me know. The guy in Aussieland who s upplied my Ciocc decals does not make them.
Jesse Hearndon
West Melbourne, FL
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live\u2122 Hotmail®:\u2026more than just e-mail.
http://windowslive.com/