Majacraft Suzie - All Purpose Workhorse

The Majacraft Suzie is the most versatile and well rounded wheel in the Majacraft Spinning Wheel product line.  It is the wheel that Majacraft uses to design and optimize all the accessories, so it works with every optional tool available from Majacraft.  It was the original Majacraft wheel and has been around for 30+ years.  It is named after the original owners' John and Maizie Allots' daughter.

It has a solid drive wheel with a pretty engraved clematis design on the wheel and stem which was designed by New Zealand artist Sharon O'Callaghan. 

The solid drive wheel is made of MDF with rimu veneer, and the weight of the wheel makes treadling very easy on the knees.  Once it starts spinning, the wheel takes momentum and treadling gets really easy.

It has a bobbin bar on the front which is designed for storage of two bobbins.  It wasn't designed to be used as a lazy kate.  But many people do figure out how to use as a lazy kate.

It was designed to allow for easy assembly and it is a very flexible design.  If you loosen the wooden drive wheel knob, you can shift the stem to the left or right, which is very convenient for long draw.

You can shift the stem all the way down until it reaches a safe hard stop to take advantage of the carrying handle feature.

You can also shift the spinning head to have the orifice offset to the right or left, depending on how you assemble the head:

At one time the drive wheel on the Suzie was laminated, but it was improved with an MDF base and a rimu veneer.

Scotch tension

The Suzie uses scotch tension to control the speed of the bobbin and flyer rotation.  With scotch tension, the flyer is directly connected to the drive wheel, and the bobbin follows the flyer.  The bobbin has a small amount of resistance applied with a separately controlled brake band to allow the flyer to rotate faster than the bobbin.  This makes it possible for the flyer to wind the fiber onto the bobbin.  This light tension allows for spinning finer yarns, but can be adjusted if more bulky spinning is desired. 

Double treadle

The Suzie is a double treadle spinning wheel.  This means you use both feet to treadle two pedals which rotates the drive wheel.  Double treadle wheels offer excellent control over the rotation of the wheel which is helpful when stopping, starting, changing speeds and rotation directions.  You have much more control than when using a single treadle wheel.

What is the difference between the Suzie and the Suzie Pro?

I listened to a live feed of Glynnis Poad explaining the differences between the Suzie and the Suzie Pro that was released in 2017.  In it she says that the Suzie was the original wheel.  The Suzie Pro was added and had a drive wheel that was 25% heavier than the drive wheel on the Suzie.  This gave it more inertia to allow it to spin very smoothly with little effort.  It was designed to be a production wheel.  There have been changes to the Suzie Pro over time, such that now they only difference structurally between the two wheels is the appearance of the drive wheels.  The Suzie and Suzie Pro drive wheels are made of a base MDF material, and are flat, not sculpted.  They are also very close in weight.  The Suzie Pro has a painted MDF drive wheel.  The standard color is green, but you can work with Majacraft to customize the color of your drive wheel and pulleys.  Suzie Pro is also sold with more accessories.

Accessories

The following accessories are available for use with the Suzie spinning wheel:

• Lace Kit
• Stylus kit
• Standard wood bobbin
• Rosebright Pink plastic bobbin
• Eastern Blue Plastic bobbin
• Plastic jumbo bobbin
• Wood jumbo bobbin
• Aura Hybrid Flyer
• Plying Flyer
• Standard E Flyer
• Delta Flyer
• Wild Flyer
• Wheel Skeiner
• Lavender Wax
• Universal Tensioned Lazy Kate
• Yarn gauge
• Overdrive Head For the Suzie
• High Speed Head (specifically designed around the Suzie)

Specifications for the Majacraft Suzie

• Packed weight
• Dim weight (USPS Calculation to account for extra large box, use this to estimate shipping cost):  37 lbs
• Sell price:  $1,280 USD

Spares/Replacements for the Suzie Wheel

The Suzie comes standard with the following items, all are available from our website for replacements or spares:

• 4 black plastic standard bobbins
• 1 Delta flyer with adjustable 8 mm standard flyer hook
• Flexible polycord drive band
• Suzie pulley
• Nylon Brake band
• Standard tension spring
• 2 Bobbin rods

Other parts of the wheel can be sourced as replacement parts, contact me directly if this is something you need at jen6265@gmail.com.

Ratios for the Majacraft Suzie and Suzie Pro

Here is a video of me changing the whorl on a Majacraft wheel:

Here is a video of me changing the drive band on a Majacraft wheel:

Warranty

Your new Majacraft wheel is guaranteed to be free of defects in the workmanship for a period of two (2) years following the date of original purchase.

Documents

Majacraft Suzie/Pro Assembly Manual

Majacraft Overdrive Head Assembly Manual

Majacraft Spinning Manual

Videos:

Here is a video of me unboxing my Majacraft Suzie Spinning Wheel:

Here is a video of me assembling the Majacraft Suzie Spinning Wheel:

Here is a video of me Spinning with the Majacraft Suzie Spinning Wheel:

Here is a video of me installing and using the high Speed Head on the Suzie:

Here is a video of me using the Suzie and the Lace Kit

Here is a video of me using Suzie and the Stylus Kit

Here is a video of me using Suzie and the Wheel Skeiner: