My best bike:
Early '80s Sugino 5,6-speed crankset with completely different Shimano outer and middle rings, Salsa or no-name inner. Dura-Ace 9-speed FD
SRAM 9-speed chain, edit: Phil Wood BB, Performance LOOK style pedals.
Campy rear hub and 9-speed cassette and Campy Mirage RD. SunTour Superbe friction DT shifters. Front hub either Ultegra or Chorus.
Shimano dual pivot brakes, Tektro V-brake levers
Custom seatpost and stem, Nitto handlebars. (Custom stem= just because Geo.W gave us that $600 loan from China and I elected to spend it locally.)
Front rim - Open Pro, rear- either Open Pro or Velocity Aero.
I generally have matching tire types but rarely both sidewall colors and widths.
I DID NOT nix gruppos. All but the custom parts (and seat and handlebars) were bought used, Somebody else did the separating long before my hands touched them. I haven't owned a "gruppo" since my SunTour/NItto/Diacomp/Sugino Fuji Professional in the '70s.
Most of the gruppos out there have had one or more parts I don't like and wouldn't ride (sometimes for safety reasons). Examples - brifters where touching the brake lever from the side can cause unintended shifts. (The company that makes those levers also makes the best brakes.) The "classic" Campy NR brakes that for my hand strength offered minimal wet braking power. The next level of N+1 cassette cogs at multiple hundreds of dollars for each upgrade and obsoleting my existing rear wheels. I choose handlebars for shape and hand fit. Stems for length and height. Only occasionally do I even see those two as a package. (Especially since my stems run long. For me, 130 is short.)
Like I said on the previous page, if mixing is a sin I won't see the other side of those pearly gates. But I'm not sweating it.
Ben
Last edited by 79pmooney; 08-31-20 at 11:21 AM.