Help choosing a drive train
 

I have the following set up on my centurion elite RS:
shifters: sun-tour barcons
Front mech: shimano 600
Crank: Shimano 600 double
Rear mech: dura-ace 9sp
cassette: dura-ace 9sp

I am wondering if it would be possible to change to:
Front mech: xtr
crank: triple raceface forged
rear mech: xtr 9sp
cassette: dura-ace 9sp

Has anyone ever seen a road bike set up with xtr stuff? Would that be silly? or possible?

Does anyone have any other suggestions or advice?

if it's compatible, sure. i've had some XTR stuff on a road bike in the past. worked fine.

Cool, I might try it out then. Thanks

Possible, yes. Silly, maybe.

If you have the XTR stuff on the shelf and nothing better to do with it, why not? But it would be silly to buy XTR for this.

BTW, the front mech will only work because you're using friction shifting. If you ever went to STI it would give you trouble.

You might also find that the gearing is awkward, depending on the rings on your crankset. A 44-32-22 set, for instance, probably isn't what you'd want on the road.

small MTB chainrings might make your gearing too low

Also not sure if dura ace cassette indexing matches MTB shifters

I don't see why not! That's what's great about friction shifters, they'll pull on any ole thing.

Me too. Rear derailleur so I could run a 32 cog along with my 50/34 crank. (Yes, I am a wuss.) 9 speed. No changes in chain or brifters. Worked great.

If OP doesn't already have the front XTR, maybe a triple road front derailleur would eliminate the problems. Or better yet a compact double. I ran that and really liked it. The whole question is why run a Dura Ace cassette, when the XTR lets you go up to a much larger cog? That is what makes the compact crank so suitable. Of course if you already have the stuff, maybe there is less choice. I got the sense OP still wanted the bike to operate like a road bike.

Yeah, I want the bike to function as a road bike for sure. I have this late 90's XTR stuff and Im just not sure what to do with it.

XTR brings good money on eBay, and it isn't likely to improve your shifting performance.

Is switching to a triple crankset part of the goal or are you just looking for a use for that too?