I recently bought a $100 vintage road bike that has these balilla brake parts.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Italian-...QQcmdZViewItem

The original owner said he originally paid around $1500 for the bike in the 1970's. Feedback from asking around was that although the bike was rare, parts were low end/nothing special.

Since I don't often see parts, I was going to just stock an extra set (just to have them around/worst case use the break shoes as replacements) - as long as I can get them on the cheap.

Question that I have -> Is it worth keeping to the original parts, or is this low end stuff/not worth replacing?

I'm thinking that it's probably not worth stocking, but I'm a little hung up on the fact that the original owner originally paid so much for the bike.

I appreciate any feedback. Also, what does not NOS mean? It's listed in the description.
Thanks!