Maelochs

I doubt i will live long enough to have to replace the threaded Tange headset in my Raleigh, but , but if I do, thanks for the tip. (I went with black, though.)

greatscott

I would splurge on the frameset because you can't replace that cheaply, and a good frame should be just that...good. Component wise there isn't much difference between 105 and DA, in fact 105 is known to be more robust than DA.

Paul brakes? why? when other less expensive brakes work just fine.

Why Velo Orange stuff? are you trying to go vintage look? If that's the case I would go Velo Orange with the brakes instead of Pauls; in fact I would go Velo Orange for all the components, better yet try to find NOS or NIB vintage components on E-bay and make it a true vintage component bike. If you go all Velo Orange then the problem becomes what of the derailleurs? Velo Orange doesn't make those, but I wish they would, if you get something modern like 105 it will look just plain goofy with Velo Orange vintage look. EBay has this, and probably others, but see this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SunTour-Cyc...YAAOSwZ2tcOOIK I guess you could get just NOS/NIB vintage derailleurs and the rest Velo Orange. Suntour made the best vintage derailleurs of any company. that was on the market back in the day, models like Superbe, Cyclone, and Sprint were extremely good derailleurs, mountain bike type of components then see this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Suntour-XCD...gAAOSw9t1auxYL

Lighting choices sound good, I don't necessarily agree with your choice but I read your response when someone else questioned that wisdom so I won't bore you with why I disagree.

I'm sorry if I sound ignorant to what your asking, but I can't tell what you're wanting to do with the bike, do you want a road bike, a mountain bike, a gravel bike, a touring bike, a commuter bike, a hybrid bike, what?

jade408

Maelochs

Sounds delectable.

greatscott

Ok, that helps clear some stuff up.

I think I would rather spend a bit more money and try to find either in bits and pieces, or as a whole package a true vintage component system, but that's just me, but that vintage stuff was almost always silver and they were very high quality especially the upper mid to upper end stuff vs Velo Orange. Any vintage brake cabling can be internally routed, they did that back in the day of vintage steel bikes, internal routing isn't a new idea. Since you live in a hilly place but not a mountainous area older 5, 6 or 7 speed freewheels would be more than enough gearing, and you really don't need a triple chain gear set up unless you plan on carrying heavy loads with the bike, ie touring gear, but even on the vintage end of the spectrum they made triple chain gears for touring bikes back in the day so you can find that if you need it. If you want to go real vintage keep in mind that all maintenance issues, like chains, cables, bearings, gears etc are all found in local bike shops, the only things local bike shops won't be able to get is ring gears but if you stay with major brands like Suntour and Shimano you can get those anytime you need one on E-bay; and you may have trouble finding brake hoods at an LBS but again they do remanufactured brake hoods so they are out there; and brake pads can usually be found at LBS's as well since Kool Stop (or whatever their name is) makes them for any vintage brake system. I've owned and ride regularly a vintage bike and haven't had any issues getting whatever I needed...but the older stuff rarely breaks like the newer stuff does which is the main reason I would go with true vintage stuff. I personally think that Suntour was the best of the vintage components, they were extremely robust, shifted faster and more positive than anyone else, looks wise I liked drillium but that stuff is difficult to get and the companies that made that stuff were not as reliable as Suntour, there was some Suntour drillium but the French Huret, and Spain Zeus went crazy with the idea which looked really cool but durability of any French system wasn't good, not sure how reliable the Zeus stuff was because I never knew anyone who owned the stuff. I had a neighbor that had a vintage drillium Huret on a bike that he owned forever, he said he hated the reliability and the shifting quality it but he loved the look of it! And it was very cool looking.

Anyway just some random thoughts to consider.

Boerd

Spend on a classic frame and some good wheels. The rest are consumables. Next year there will be a newer shinier groupset. My 2c.

jgwilliams

I think for me value is most important but I couldn't buy something that didn't appeal aesthetically. For groupsets I tend not to go for the top of the range as I feel you are paying a huge amount for very little extra. So my groupset of choice when I kitted out my 1993 bike was Campagnolo Chorus rather than Record. My last bike was SRAM Force rather Red or Red Etap. And if you're looking for American components I can thoroughly recommend SRAM - it works beautifully. Although my reason for going for it was more to do with aesthetics - I think the Ultegra chainset is hideous (although none of them have the organic beauty of Campag chainsets from ca 1990) and I also didn't like the idea of the brake lever doubling as a shifter.

For the frame, I'd never go top-of-the-range unless I had money to burn. I've got a nice carbon frame and I'd probably not really notice the improvement if I'd spent double. I could have spent more on the wheels but they're ok. Not sure about very deep section wheels as they seem to be quite susceptible to side-winds.

hillyman

Man I don't know. My brain is so accustomed to making the bike I have better. If I took on building my own custom bike I'd end up in a straitjacket drawing pictures of my dream bike on rubber room walls with crayons between my toes.
I'm sure you'll end up with a sweet ride.
Good luck!