Ha. Could be

:)

OK GB. If you insist. I was riding my PX-10, with about 60 pounds of panniers and front bag on it, back in 72, on a tour of the Olympic Peninsula. I had my tire savers mounted in the recommended fashion, front one under the fork crown. I ran over something like a big wad of paper and gum. It lodged in there under the fork crown, all balled up in the tire saver, and I nearly crashed. I did go off the road, but kept it upright. Since then, I mounted in "backwards" and never had a problem with it mounted that way. Have to admit though, haven't run over anything like that chunk of sticky debris since and the same problem might have occurred with it mounted backwards. I can see the potential for danger with it mounted this way, and have since moved it, but I had it like this for decades and never experienced any problems.

Barcon shifters. It's where Insert Name of Divine Being of Your Choice has his/her shifters.

ABSOLUTELY...I am becoming more and more enamored with Bar End shifters...

I think I'd turn it around just so I would never have to tell that story again.

At the risk of going off topic: '531' refers to a proprietary steel formulation. A galaxy of different extrusions were produced over decades for different purposes using different mandrels to produce various types of butts and wall thicknesses. So if one refers to just '531', it is in the generic sense. In that way, I don't believe that 531 has ever been under-rated.

Yeah, don't want to go to far off either but I think the op was refering to "c" over other varieties or earlier types. The difference being 531C (competition) versus 531st ("touring"), the C version being lighter guage, the st slightly heavier for better attachments for brazeons for high end tourers. Both were butted.

I've ridden one bike with 531C and the only thing I didn't like about it was a flexy shuddering when braking hard. I never noticed anything like that on either the normal 531 or Columbus SL/SLX pipes used in all my bikes.

However, this was a pretty big bike - a late-70s/early 80s Mercian I picked up for facilitation (it went to a C&V member), so that may have had something to do with the flexiness. I can tell you that for a big bike it sure as hell didn't weigh much; I'm sure it didn't tip the scales at over 21lbs (with a clincher wheelset).

DD

I hear you DD.

Many years ago I worked at a local shop and we carried several brands that used this tube set.

We could get a couple of different bikes to do this and it certainly was unsettling at 40 mph.......

I've got one - OMAS headsets.

What's amazing about them?

Amazing might be a bit much...it's just a headset.

They look good, they do the job and most are unfamiliar with them.

My RX100 components are doing well - since 1991.

no doubt. I got about 50,000km out of set of 105s, and i still have some rx100s

Shimano freewheels meant for index shifters, used for friction shifting.

Any "531" variant carries with it the heritage and prestige of 531- regardless of what designator. Even people with with 531CS talk about the 531 ride- even though it's not all 531. So, in terms of "rating," it's always going to be a premium.

I'm also going to nominate Takagi Tourney XT cranksets.

IMO, they walk the line of graceful and business. Designed for ATB use and perfectly at home on a tourer or randonnneur.

Suntour Cyclone mk2 group doesn't seem to be that highly rated. I have one on a bike, and it works awesome, much better than Campy NR.

Most of what Sakae Ringyo makes seems pretty under-rated.

+1 What we know of SR in the West are their famous Laprade seatpost, stems and bars, and a few entry-level cranks. Still, they were quality stuff.
But not widely seen are their hubs, Campagnolo Super Record style drillium crankset, pedals, and their SR-Litage aluminum frameset.
A lot of Suntour cranks were not only made by Sugino, but also SR.

The basic skewer.

^THIS^

I prefer the Uniglide style cogs to the later Hyperglide type since Hyperglide can cause un-announced "hunting" between gears if the friction shifter isn't centered on the cog. It's impossible to know if the chain is centered on a Hyperglide cog unless the rider does a little back-and-forth movement of the shift lever before doing a sprint or climbing effort for example, when frame flex might result in unwanted gear change or worse, outright slippage.

The other under-rated parts that I really like are the Weinmann brake levers, later produced under the DiaCompe brand.
A decent set of levers once you put a $10 pair of hoods on them which are in good supply.

Are Suntour derailers under-rated? They're the best!

SR stems may look chunky, but the venerable and prolific SR Custom is super-solid and polishes out nicely, even if it's a little heavy.

Specialized headsets were some of the best imo.

And I think that Araya made some of the best (i.e. straightest) steel rims ever made. I've put these on some of my best builds and have ridden thousands of miles on them. The braking surfaces always seem very smooth, especially for a steel rim.

I don't think that Uniglide freewheels are under-rated, but they are the best imo.

Shimano's 9-speed chain isn't very c&V, but works better than anything on quite a few C&V bikes, especially on Suntour 5, 6 and 7-speed freewheels where a serious improvement in shifting always results.

For you MTB fans early SRAM "Grip Shifters".

agreed and they are making a come back with good reason. light and simple. I had srt-600i paired to 8s 1995 deore LX derailleurs and loved them. Nothing says retro cool like a set of srt-800 x-rays with a colour match grip to your anodized parts.

Gripshifters are definitely underrated! This is the very first time I've ever read anything positive about them. I always liked them myself. The only problem I ever had with them was changing the cables and I managed to figure it out.