Leslie: It all depends what you mean by "vintage." Some "vintage" bits are exorbitantly expensive -- Dura Ace 7410 brake lever hoods. Others are still very reasonable -- Shimano 600 levers. 9 speed LX derailleurs IME shift wonderfully; are those old enough to be "vintage"?
10 speed? 9? 8? 7? Fixed? And what sort of stuff. Racer? Mountain bike? Just ride? You can find on this list, on other lists, and on eBay, enough decent non-current drivetrain, wheel, and other bits to build up a very nicely working bike for far, far less than you'd pay for current, mid-level Shimano bits. In fact, if there is a good bike shop near you, you may well find bins and piles of abandoned 8 and 9 speed bits that work perfectly well and that you can buy for pennies on the dollar. I know that I can do this at 2 bike shops within 8 miles of where I live. My favorites, discounting my "style" affectation for 8-speed era Dura Ace: old 8 speed XT derailleurs, cranks, and hubs and, even older, pre-XT "Deore" 7 speed stuff, which may well have been the same stuff as the 8 speed XT, just with different name and slightly different appearance. FWIW, I'm a man (I deprecate using "male" and "female" instead of "man" and "woman", and I hate using "gender" instead of the proper word, "sex" -- nouns have gender, people have sexes, though only 1 each), but I have small, elegant, but bigger than Trumps hands, and I really like the old Shimano aero levers -- easy to reach, and powerful in the pull. I've not used any Campy levers except the old Record non-aeros, and the Shimano 600 and forward aeros are far easier to use, IME. The beginning of a list: Hubs: 8 speed XT or 7 speed Deore or 8 or 9 speed LX Derailleurs: ditto Brakes: Mafac centerpulls are fine, as long as you don't use Mafac levers. Shimano aero levers, it doesn't matter what vintage. Do use Koolstop salmon pads, though. Bar end shifters: the Silvers are wonderful, but fragile IME -- I've broken 3. I like the old SunTour Power Ratchets. I shift 10 using mine, but perhaps 8 may be easier. Cranks: 3 of my 4 bikes have the old Pro 5 Vis; the 4th, for dirt roads, has an old Ritchey Logic. Either of these, or the same 8 speed XT or 7 speed Deore. If you can deal with 52/38 rings (I did; I just started my cassette with a Miche 16 t outer cog), the Dura Ace 7410 crank is the most beautiful crank ever made, over and out, amen. It takes a 103 mm bb spindle, though. I build my own cassettes from cogs scavenged from bike shops; where I need a special outer, I buy Miche. My 10 speed "road bike for dirt" has a cobbled 14-15-16-17-18-19-20-22-24-28 driven by a 42/28, with Power Ratchets pulling a 7410 rear derailleur. A modern, Nashbar "Microshift" rd would work better, but would't look as nice. On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 3:47 PM, Lesli Larson <lesli.lar...@gmail.com> wrote: > It's been awhile since I sourced parts for a new bike. I haven't done this > since I ordered my custom Riv ages ago. > > Use: randonneuring > > Question: what's the current wisdom regarding classic long cage > derailleurs, front derailleurs, rear hubs (freewheel or cassette), > seatposts and shifts? > > Have things gotten crazy expensive or is vintage still a viable > alternative to new stuff. > > I'm sorry I missed out on the Riv Phil hub (what I have on my older road > bike). > > I already have Mafac racers, a TA crank, and a set of Campy brake levers > in hand. > > I'm a female with smallish hands and shortish stature. I'm going to set > the bike up as a compact double with either bar-ends or downtube shifters. > > Wondering whether folks recommend in the way of classic, duable, stylish, > lightweight parts? New or old. > > > Let me know if you have anything for sale that might match my shopping > list! > > Regards, > > Lesli Larson > Eugene, OR > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. 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