With the release in 1968 of the SunTour V and the SunTour Honor, the SunTour Skitter found its new place in the SunTour product range - at the very bottom of the heap. Commensurate with this status it looses its adjustable pulley cage and the rear knuckle becomes a steel pressing - a scaled down version of the Honor’s knuckle.
It retains the two trademark features of SunTour’s in-house Skitter designs - it is low-normal (what Shimano now call ‘rapid-rise’) and it had only one spring, which, through devious design, provides both chain tension and operates the parallelogram.
It also retains its proud membership of the pantheon of derailleurs with silly names.
This example is from around 1969. It has:
- A flat hanger plate with a slot, rather than round hole, for the dropout bolt.
- A pressed steel b-knuckle with a b-pivot adjustment screw.
- A clear red protector at the b-pivot.
- A logo on the outer parallelogram plate in cursive letters.
- A p-pivot with a ten sided cap with a red centre branded 'SUNTOUR'.
- Red pulleys with black dust caps. The puilley wheels are branded 'MAEDA INDUSTRIES LTD'.
- Derailleur brands: SunTour
- Categories: SunTour - the Skitter story
- Themes: A riot of colour
- Country: Japan
- Date of introduction: 1969?
- Date of this example: 1969? (no two letter date code, but both pulleys and parallelogram plate are stamped ‘Maeda Industries Ltd.’)
- Model no.: unknown
- Weight: 319g including hanger plate and the extravagant ‘protector’ nut
- Maximum cog: 30 teeth?
- Total capacity: 28 teeth?
- Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
- Index compatibility: friction
- Chain width: 3/32”
- Logic: low normal
- B pivot: unsprung
- P pivot: sprung
- Materials: steel
Ref. 2283
