Originally Posted by
moxfyre
(c) Is it drilled for water bottle brackets? The cheapo frames rarely are, the good ones usually are.
There are quite a few high-end frames with few or no braze-ons (for downtube shifters, water bottle cages, cable guides, etc.), though these tend to predate 1980 or so. A tubing sticker can help with identification of better tubesets in this circumstance, but as Little Darwin advises, some time spent researching in C&V is quite instructive.
Originally Posted by
moxfyre
I have/had 5 or so Sugino cranksets with removeable chainrings, and all worked great. The cheaper ones were heavier than low-end stuff today, but more solidly built.
Good advice. Also look for cranks and spiders that are one piece, rather than
swaged. This usually applies to older components, predating the mid 80s or so. There are plenty of 'low-end' one-piece crank/spiders, though even these are better than the swaged design.
Oh, and don't let the sirens of 'high-end' tubing fool you. Some framesets use the more expensive tubes in the main triangle only, but will use high tensile in the stays and forks, or some other 'lesser' material. If you're paying a premium, makes sure there are genuine looking decals on the frame and forks, usually indicating that the entire frame is constructing of said tubing.
That being said, there are plenty of 'gaspipe' or high tensile framesets that are fine. Ride quality is a tricky thing, and is probably more dependent on geometry and build quality than tube materials.