SR Suntour CW9 XCT 9 Speed MTB Chainset Review

Suntour CW9 XCT Chainset Review - Intro

What is the cheapest triple 104 chainset on ebay? Its the Suntour CW9 XCT of course. But what do you get for your money, a little less than you might have bargained for.

Suntour CW9 XCT Chainset Review - First Glance and In Use

The Suntour CW9 XCT is fine, no really. It looks good its not overly heavy. And as a triple 9 speed chainset it functions.

Stock Picture - Suntour XCT

On Bike - Outer Ring Replaced with Bash Guard

Suntour CW9 XCT Chainset Review - Shortcuts

The CW9 XCT is not a true triple chain-ring chainset. The inner 22 tooth chainwheel is mounted to the 32 tooth middle ring, rather than the crank. This "nesting" on the inner two chain rings is a short cuts, and limits the swapping of the middle chain ring for a different size. It also makes the whole set-up feel less rigid.

Chainring bolts are standard size, holes in the crank arm are of a standard size. However, there are no chain ring nuts, they have been done away with in exchange for threaded holes in the middle chain ring.

Steel Rings

Middle ring is threaded to avoid cost of nut.

Small ring mounted to mounted to middle ring rather than crank arm.

 Suntour CW9 XCT Chainset Review -Conclusion

This is a fine chainset for kids, and light ridiers but I feel that shortcuts have been taken. I bought this so I could swap around chain rings from the large stcokes of 104 chain rings I have in the spares box. Not really possible with this chainset.

I can't recommend a  Suntour Chainset , as I do not know where the short cuts used in this model are replaced by the higher end features. How much would you have to spend. Anyone else got a triple from Suntour.

 Environmental Consultants London