Originally Posted by rekmeyata

I'm not really into "really great" vintage bikes because I think they're way overpriced, and the vintage Campy components found on "really great" vintage bikes were not all that great despite what Italian and Campy lovers will scream. Add on top of that vintage steel Columbus or especially Vitus were flexier than their British or Japanese steel makers counterparts; it wasn't till after Miyata came out with their splined tubing did Columbus develop one in response called the SLX ribbed did Columbus have their least flexy tubeset which compared to...believe it not Reynolds 531 without ribs. Reynolds 531 was always considered the sprinters tubeset, while Columbus was more of a long distance tubeset because the flex absorbed some of the vibration more.

So I stay mostly with mid level vintage bikes because I can get those cheap, and I stay with Japanese components especially Suntour because they were bulletproof and shifted faster than anyone else. That doesn't mean I don't have any vintage Shimano because even vintage Shimano worked better than Campy!