So in looking at people's "sleepers" here- it's interesting that a lot of people stumble over the same things- not talked about, not prized possessions, not feverish acquisitions... Just stuff that you've discovered that works/looks great.

My favorite saddle is the San Marco Touring- it came on a few touring bikes in 86- and that's it. I don't think I've seen it specced on anything other than Voyageurs, Passages and Trek 620. Although I like the Avocet Touring IIs that I have, the one drawback to the San Marco is that it doesn't have loops for hanging a bag- which the Avocets have.



As I mentioned before- the Sachs/Huret ratcheting shifters. I'm really excited to try the Simplex retrofrictions and compare them to the Sachs/Huret shifters- I find the action... "silky" compared to the Suntour ratcheting stuff (I've never used the Suntour Sprint friction shifters, which I've heard has a more fine ratcheting action than the Power Shifters).





It's interesting that stuff that would have been ubiquitous even on low end bikes makes it onto here. Stuff like Araya rims, Sanshin hubs, SR stems and bars, DiaCompe brakes/levers... Stuff that was specced on lower end bikes- but still trucking along 30 years later- sometimes with zero maintenance. So far from being "crappy" components- they suffer from being inexpensive, being on everything, and not having that "quality" cache.