Hello Jim & All,
I always thought SunTour's hub partner was Sanshin, not Suzue. I'm hazy on the late 70s, but by the mid-80s most of Suzue's production was for Shimano and much of Sanshin's production was for SunTour. Sanshin's president was Mamoru Kawai, the son of SunTour's chairman Junzo Kawai. I assumed that Mamoru's strategic position at Sanshin meant SunTour owned a chunk of Sanshin, but never knew the details. (BTW, pretty standard Japanese corporate practice - in a similar vein Miyata is partially owned/controlled by Matsushita/Panasonic, and Miyata's president was usually recruited from Panasonic's executive ranks.)
I always thought the Shimano constellation (called "JBM"?) included Suzue (hubs), SR (Sakae Ringyo - stems, posts), KKT (Kyokuto - pedals) and Tange (headsets), while Maeda/SunTour's group ("JEX") included Sanshin (hubs), Yoshigai (Dia-Compe - brakes), Kusuki (stems, posts) MKS (Mikashima - pedals) and Hatta (headsets). Looking at the parts it's pretty clear that early Superbe pedals were rebadged Mikashima Unique Custom, and the large-flange hubs look to my eyes to be rebadged Sanshin ProAm.
Suzue's factory was physically closer to SunTour, within a few kilometers of the Mihara-cho plant, while Sanshin was further away in Shiga-ken. As Jim noted, since Maeda/SunTour crashed and burned, and the Mihara-cho plant is no more, who built what for whom and when is just a sad little historical footnote. Maybe I need to dust off my Superbe Pro-equipped Brodeus (the only frame I ever built, at a Proteus framebuilding class in '82) for a misty-eyed Sunday morning ride....
Cheers,
Paul Brodek Hillsdale, NJ
On Sat, 10 Aug 2002 08:01:42 -0700, "Jim Merz" <jimmerz@qwest.net>
wrote:
>Also, SunTour owned Suzue during the period in question here. It was in
>a different plant however. You are correct in the makers for the various
>Superbe parts except for the cranks, Sugino made them.
>
>Jim Merz
>Bainbridge Is. WA
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 7:51 AM
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: FW: [CR]Superbe stem info wanted
>
>SunTour did not make the stem, crank, pedal or seat posts. This group
>strategy was an attempt to compete with Shimano. Unfortunately it failed
>and SunTour crashed and burned.
>
>Jim Merz
>
>-----Original Message-----
>Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 6:30 PM
>To: FujiFish1@aol.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]Superbe stem info wanted
>
> I have a SR Royal stem on a 78 Centurion that came with Suntour Cyclone
>(predating Superbe) that matches the description of the stem. I have
>assumed
>that Superbe group came out of the parts that made up a Suntour high end
>"Cyclone Group" from 78 - Gran Compe brakes, SR Royal stem, crank and SR
>seat post, Suzue Pro-am hubs.
> How much of the Superbe group did Suntour make?
>
>David Stow
>Jacksonville Beach, Fl
Paul C. Brodek
Hillsdale, N.J. U.S.A.
E-mail: pcb@skyweb.net