Originally Posted by InTheRain

I'm sure everyone has their own "line" as to what is good quality. For me, it's the tiagra level of the shimano drive train components. I have tiagra on my touring bike that I use for commuting. I have no complaints. On my road bike (carbon fiber cannondale synapse) Everything is ultegra except the rear derailleur which is dura ace. Even the wheels are ultegra hubs and rims. It's very nice stuff. I can't say that I notice that it functions any better than the tiagra but I'm sure that it is lighter weight.

However, I have my eyes on several upgrades. I'd like to upgrade my tourning bike with a Schmidt son hub dynamo (I currently have a shimano) on the front and Phil Wood hub on the back paired to Mavic double walled rims. I'd love to throw on a Chris King headset and bottom bracket. I'd like to upgrade to Thomson seat post. I've added some quality components to the bike since I bought it. Brooks B17 saddle. Tubus Cargo rack. Busch & Muller dynamo headlight/tail light. Berthoud stainless steel/powder coated fenders with leather flaps. So, when you are buying a bicycle, you pay attention to the quality of the components on the drive train (rightfully so) but there are a lot of components/accessories that are added after the purchase that I would recommend that you pay a lot of attention too when you are buying those.

I haven't really added anything to my cannondale road bike since the purchase. It's pretty much stock and I've been riding it that way for 4+ years now. I imagine that I'll need some new rims soon. I think the ultegra hubs will still be in excellent condition, so I'll just have it paired to a new rim... a quality one, of course.