SunTour or SR Suntour is a Japanese manufacturer of bicycle components. They make products ranging from suspension forks to derailleurs. They are known for making very durable components at a low cost. Begun in 1912 as Maeda Iron Works Company manufacturing freewheels and sprockets, the company began producing their version of the French pull-chain, rod-guided, touring derailleurs in the 1950s.

In the 1960s SunTour invented the slant parallelogram rear derailleur. In the early 1970s demand created by the bike boom in the U.S. far exceeded the capacity of European manufacturers. SunTour and Shimano filled the void. While both companies provided products for all price-ranges of the market, SunTour also focused on refinement of existing systems and designs for higher end products, while Shimano paid more attention to rethinking the basic systems and bringing out innovations such as click-shift and front freewheel systems.

After SunTour suffered from the devaluation of the Yen in 1985 they kept in market until mid-90s, but withdrew from the US market because they could not compete with Shimano, and are recently (2004) re-entering the market.

SunTour's new products are classified in a different way from Shimano's and SRAM's. Instead of using definite names to define the quality of the parts, they use a lettering system that, while giving much information about the product, can be confusing.

References

• Official Suntour website
• Sunset for SunTour By Frank J. Berto
• SR Suntour history

Cycle manufacturers | Suntour | サンツアー