A lot of what makes a component "good" is how it's used, however there is a very definite issue of quality to how a component is made- whether it's the materials, the design, the manufacturing process...

As you read about Suntour- Maeda charged what THEY thought their product was worth, instead of letting the market decide. As a result, Suntour didn't charge a lot and their stuff ended up going on department store bikes- but because of their slant parallelogram rear derailleur- it shifted and fucntioned better than anything else- regardless of price. While most people now generally recognize that superiority of that function (though not necessarily the "pretty" of the pieces), I can imagine it would have been hard to admit that entry level stuff actually was the best stuff.

A few weeks ago there was a thread about the quality of the Takagi Tourney XT crankset. My 1984 Stumpjumper came with one- so I kind of figured it was good stuff and replied as such in the thread. It looks graceful, yet sufficiently robust to look like it means business. The previous owner of my Stumpjumper rode it all over for (probably) thousands of miles for 20+ years. When I was putting together my Voyageur, I specifically sought out a Takagi Tourney XT crankset. It's a brand that was bought out by Shimano- and it was never really a piece that was on a LOT of stuff- so it's kind of unknown- but in my mind it had cache and was quality.

When I bought my Trek 620- it had some replacement wheels on there- I was kind of happy since I didn't HAVE to replace the Helicomatic that came on there originally. However, I found some wheels with Atom high flange hubs laced to some Mavic rims. While the high flange hubs are shiny and the Mavic labels are pretty, I don't think they're really way up there on the food chain for robust wheels. As a result, I've wanted to upgrade to something a little different. I have a set of wheels with Belgian made Weinmann rims- although these came on a low end Trek- the more I looked at those wheels- Double walled, eyeletted... I think those are good, guality rims. But when I think of Weinmann, I don't think of a prized, coveted piece.

Speaking of Weinmann... in the Show Your Vintage Touring Bike thread, Lascauxcaveman posted his Peugot with Weinmann cantilever brakes- and I found that Charlie Kelly used those when he was building his own personal Mountain Bike in the very formative years of downhill Mountain Biking. IMO- those brakes, regardless of function, have cache because of that.

So what is the porpoise of this thread?

First, and quite selfishly- are those Belgian made Weinmann 27" rims "good stuff?"

Secondly- what are some of those "sleeper" components that people pass by looking for Campagnolo or XT or...