I love Deore. I have it set up on my Shogun touring bike with 7 speed DT shifters. Shifts are pretty much flawless. I have a couple of sets of it, not sure what bike to put the other set on. I have two sets of Cyclone MII and for friction shifting it's my favorite. I have two sets of Golden Arrow, but have yet to try it. Looks very similar to old 600 aside from the name and a few design features. I'm going to build a bike up with it soon to see how I like it.

For brakes I like pretty much anything late eighties Shimano sidepull, and Dia Compe. I have a set of 105 with dual pivot calipers. The pull is effortless and they stop almost as well as old school MTB canti's. That to me is impressive, and I will buy another set if they pop up.,,,,BD