Forgive me if there is something like this. Retrobike has whole dub-forums for the discussion of "Kit".

I thought it would be nice to have a thread where C&V'ers could share a recent find which they had been looking for, for some time, that makes them feel good. Sometimes we are willing to pay that little bit more for a part we have been looking for. Scarcity plays into price big time.

So come on, what is your latest component score that was an exceedingly good deal or that you had been looking for, for some time.

I'll go first.

Today I received an email from my followed ebay searches about Shimano BR-M734 Cantilever brakes in black.

Most of the time I click and see the same re-posted add for one pair (one wheel) used for too much money.

Today I saw NOS full set with straddle wires for $100 and a reasonable $15 international shipping. I had a line on a set for $150 a while back but just couldn't pull the trigger.

I figured I'd make an offer. $80 seemed reasonable and I told myself if they countered I would not go up, but these babies are not coming up for sale and when they do on Retrobike they are gone in hours. I had the money in my Paypal so why not. They accepted almost immediately and I paid up! $94 shipped, not bad...

Vintage Shimano Deore XT Bicycle BR M734 Black Cantilever Brake Set | eBay

Does an entire bike count?

Only if you post pictures.

I tend to pick up my parts off complete bikes. I picked up a raleigh super course mark ii for $175. The PO had tastefully upgraded the bike with campy nuovo record hubs laced to campy rims (the wheels are in immaculate shape), a pair of long reach dura ace brakes, a campy nuovo record headset, a campy nuovo record seatpost, cinelli bar and stem, a TA cyclotourist crank, a very nice pair of lyotard pedals, and a shimano crane rear derailleur, a shimano titlist front derailleur, and shimano 600 shifters. I needed the wheels for a different bike I want to build up and figure the rest of the bike was just gravy to the wheelset.

I think I'm going to put the parts in my parts bin and probably build the frame up as a single speed to use as a casual lock up bike around town. I can do this build with parts I have in my parts bin.

Edit: gotta add pics or it never happened,

Very cool.

I've never seen those before.

Would look sweet on my Bob Brown ss mtb.

After looking for quite a while I finally have a Sugino Mighty Competition crank with drilled chainrings:



Also picked up front and rear Suntour Cyclone derailleurs (anodized in black even!) for a weight-weenie build I've been planning for a while that includes that crank.

Clamp on Suntour Symmetric shifters came my way recently through the for sale thread on this forum. Two sets of them.

Will add something later....

Been trying to score a wheelset on CList for a while, I feel $50 was quite the deal for me

Road over to the sellers house on my Peugeot PX10 to buy a Campagnolo SR seat post, and wound up buying more than I could take home. Had to make two trips, but saved on gas!!

Two sets of NOS Shimano Dura Ace EX Hubs with 7 speed Uniglide clusters! What caught my eye was the pearl anodizing like Campagnolo Record Corsa or Record C!

NOS Shimano 600 Arabesque rear derailleur! Kinda reminds me of Timothy Leary generation!
Both the above in new and beautiful appearance!
And, of course the original pursuit the Campagnolo SR seat post.

On their way from Portugal:

Some of the things I've really been super stoked about getting after waiting forever to be able to find and/or afford.

My first XC Pro rear derailleur- This one now resides on my Schwinn Voyageur SP:




Then the Suntour Command Shifters. I paid a lot for them- but I think they paid off. This is when I first got them- I tried mounting them so the cables swept out in front, like bar end shifters- they're still on this bike:








The XC Pro brakes- I was looking for a nice set- and they were always expensive. One day I found some on a totally reasonable 'buy it now' on the ebay... when I got them, I squirrelled them away so fast, didn't even take 'em out of the plastic to take pix of. They're waiting for that "someday" bike. Since then I've stumbled on a few other sets, I really think they're the pretties cantis ever made:






hmmm... funny... it's all Suntour stuff...



Edit:

Just so it's not all Suntour- I used to dream of a clean M735 XT rear derailleur, and it was everything I wanted it to be, and it arrived on the perfect day:

cyclotoine, Not that it changed appearance much, but after years of searching I found a NOS set of white hooded 6400 brake levers.

Brad



Suntour....................Shimano

I lucked out twice and found Weinmann Vainqueur 999 brakes in 900 & 800 reach the first day of looking for each. Would have spent a long time looking otherwise. Both came from Germany.



No pic of the 800 handy. Brake power is fine with plenty of modulation to the limit (Kool Stop). My weakest brakes as expected, but more than sufficient.

Score a 1988 Schwinn Cimarron LE last week in my size! I've been looking for a nice vintage mountain bike and scored this for $70. Just finished installing new cables and housings last night. Still need a new headset since the Tange roller bearing is toast. One of the rollers came out of the carrier and just dug a huge chunk of material out of the cup.

A few guys at the bike shop way back felt if Campagnolo made a center pull brake than it would look much like that.
Of course they did recently, but they sure fly under the radar.

How about a whole bike? Found a decent Univega Sportour on CL. Got it for a cool $35! That's got to be by best deal so far. Makes up for the Centurion Turbo 12 I missed out on!

To stick close to the intended focus on 'kit', or specific components much sought-after, coveted/scored, whatever...

This was a little while back (2 months?), but I was pretty pleased with myself when I snagged a vintage Syncros titanium seat post for ~$40.

Cut to a length only a roadie could love, and priced accordingly (i.e. as of no use to the sort of vintage MTB build for which these might typically be sought-after).

But I wanted it for my Cyclops, so the good-as-new-if-bloody-short post came home with me:


Not the deal of the century or anything, or an über-rare unobtanium piece by any means, but as they say..."nice piece of kit".

Looks great stuck in a nice Canadian frame.

For me it is First Gen SunTour Cyclone, or original Cannondale bags/panniers.... Yes, I FINALLY have the yellow bag set I had back in 1978. Now where can I find the original Phil Wood hubs for <$60/pr like I bought in 1977 from Bike Warehouse...

Cinco de Mayo

Dayum, but that's pretty!

Holy crap that's my grail groupset. Can I be in your will?

I bought a 20" cw bmx bike to get the first gen. Phil hubs. Now they reside on my 84 mongoose atb single speed conversion, and I also threw on a campagnolo blue ano. Strada crank. With most of my bikes the parts/components/kit are somewhat sought after by bike nerds like us. There are so many days of looking that go into the few days in the year when you really hit a grand slam. Always feels good to make progress.

I got a a Deore kit off of a Voyageur SP.