The first nice bike that I owned was a Raleigh Gran Sport. Beautiful bike, but even with my limited experience at the time (circa 1975), I knew that most of the parts on a Gran Sport were ... not the best.
I already had a few spare parts from earlier projects, so I arranged to buy the Gran Sport from the local shop with just the parts that I liked. That ended up being just the Weinmann centerpull brakes and the Stronglight 93 cranks.

I equipped the bike with SunTour Cyclone derailleurs, SR bars & stem & seatpost, KKT Pro Ace pedals, Brooks Pro saddle, wheels built with Shimano 600 hubs & Super Champion Model 58 rims, etc. I rode that bike for 14 years and didn't regret any of the choices.
By chance, I did pick up some Campy SL track pedals and Record hubs a bit later, which got incorporated into the bike too.



Given a choice between a stock Gran Sport and my component choices, I still stick with the parts I put on the bike. The original stuff was nothing special at all.

Steve in Peoria