After SunTour went into a long slow decline, it transmuted into SR SUNTOUR and moved from Japan to Taiwan. And throughout the 1990s the derailleur range gradually decayed into a mish-mash of low-end, sub-Shimano steel and plastic.

But the arrival of the new millenium seems to have re-energised SR SUNTOUR, which suddenly produced a whole set of aspirational, innovative and freaky looking derailleurs. These featured straight cable runs, and many had a unique ability to be compatible with both Shimano and SRAM levers. They achieved this seemingly impossible feat by cunningly having two possible ways you could run the cable on the one derailleur.

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This utilitarian item is a SR SUNTOUR XCC (550 GXB). The '500 series' number may indicate that it is a lowly item festooned with plenty of plastic and steel. So it featured:

• SR SUNTOUR's clever dual cable routing allowing compatibility with both Shimano and SRAM levers
• a plastic p-knuckle and a steel inner parallelogram plate
• both pulley cage plates made of steel
• SR SUNTOUR's mid-length pulley cage (at 72mm) called GXB.

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• Derailleur brands: SR SUNTOUR
• Country: Taiwan
• Date of introduction: 2003? for model year 2004
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: XCC550-GXB
• Weight: 299g
• Maximum cog: 32 teeth (source: SR SUNTOUR)
• Total capacity: 41 teeth (source: SR SUNTOUR)
• Pulley centre to centre: 72mm
• Index compatibility: 8 speed
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: aluminium b-knuckle, outer parallelogram plate and outer pulley cage plate, plastic p-knuckle, steel inner parallelogram plate and pulley cage plate.

Ref. 1783