SunRace has a rather down-market image, and because of this I like to, ironically, collect the very top-end models. There is something fascinating about some kind of giant Kia limousine with a V8 engine, double glazing, a Champagne refrigerator and all the other crazy accoutrements of a fully loaded Mercedes-Benz S-class. In the same way it is hard not to admire a SunRace mountain bike derailleur with gold anodising, titanium hardware and minimalist, CNC-machined, sealed bearing pulley wheels.

In 2019 SunRace released their latest version of this very thing - the SunRace MZ920. But the derailleur shown here is clearly not a SunRace MZ920. Why? Because, try as I may, I have never found an MZ920 - anywhere. Perhaps the previous generation SunRace MZ90 sold rather slowly and the supply chain is still more than full.

Instead the highest spec mountain bike derailleur that SunRace appears to have made genuinely available (at least in the West) is this, more modest, more affordable and eminently more saleable SunRace MZ600. You get no bling, no woven carbon fibre, a smattering of steel components and mere plastic pulley wheels, but you also get to keep two thirds of your money. All good, but I still miss the flair and dash of the gold anodising.

And SunRace seems not only to have abandoned its slightly crazy aspirations but also to have abandoned its slightly crazy design language. The, sober and composed, MZ600 feels to me as though it is trying to look as similar to a first generation SRAM XX1 Eagle as it can ... at least without ending up in a courtroom. It has a horizontal parallelogram, a hugely offset guide pulley, a cable roller hunched behind the b-pivot bolt etc. etc.. Even the shapes of the pulley cage plates are curiously derivative. Functionally this is no bad thing - but the modern derailleur world is kind-of short of charming but meaningless design flourishes - and SunRace used to be a regular contributor.

• Derailleur brands: SunRace
• Country: Taiwan
• Date of introduction: 2019
• Date of this example: unknown (inner pulley cage plate etched 'VIC7')
• Model no.: RDMZ600.MD00
• Weight: 306g
• Maximum cog: 51 teeth (source: SunRace)
• Total capacity: 41 teeth (source: SunRace)
• Pulley centre to centre: 80mm
• Index compatibility: 12 speed
• Chain width: 3/32"
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: aluminium with a composite p-knuckle and a steel inner pulley cage plate

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