Bit bored of my bikes ending up very similar

[Magpiegifts]

I saw some White industries bits somewhere recently on here and that looked nice but very rare.

If I flick through the online brochures every bike is Shimano

Peachy did a white I industries build
Very rare and expensive

 

[d8mok]

Peachy did a white I industries build
Very rare and expensive

That’s where I saw it. On his Claud.

Yes very nice but unlikely to find and also not period for my stuff.

 

[2manyoranges]

Simple. Get a Campag Centaur groupset together. On a Cinelli frame, and with FIR rims. Vittoria tyres. All Italian. YUM.

Or

Mavic Dakar. On an early SUNN frame, with Mavic rims and Hutchinson tyres. All French. Zoot allORs.

Of course, the Campag costs a fortune…but works brilliantly.
The Mavic groupset looks amazing and works like….PANTS. Absolute rubbish underbar shifters, terrible front mech, and uselESS chainset with its crank arms made out of cheese.

Easy.

 

[Once A Hero]

Not a huge amount of choice in that time window tbh!

Like you, I try and have something a bit different on each build, but even so end up with top end Shimano being a sensible choice for gearing.

 

[d8mok]

Simple. Get a Campag Centaur groupset together. On a Cinelli frame, and with FIR rims. Vittoria tyres. All Italian. YUM.

Or

Mavic Dakar. On an early SUNN frame, with Mavic rims and Hutchinson tyres. All French. Zoot allORs.

Of course, the Campag costs a fortune…but works brilliantly.
The Mavic groupset looks amazing and works like….PANTS. Absolute rubbish underbar shifters, terrible front mech, and uselESS chainset with its crank arms made out of cheese.

Easy.

I’m happy with the frames , forks , dressing kit it’s the running gear which is awkward

 

[d8mok]

Not a huge amount of choice in that time window tbh!

Like you, I try and have something a bit different on each build, but even so end up with top end Shimano being a sensible choice for gearing.

Yes a few different parts on each one but they still end up similar. XTR just works and feels so good for that period.

I’ve got 5 x 97 bikes with M950 with just chainsets being different and it just feels a bit un-imaginative and wondered if I’m missing a trick.

 

[greencat]

Drive chain wise it was pretty much a Shimano only world in that window - and XT/XTR was very good indeed. Suntour was pretty dead, ditto Mavic, Sachs and even Campag.

I feel like there was more in the way of options in some of the hidden components eg hubs, bottom brackets, brakes/levers.

 

[mk one]

Yes, shimano was pretty much the best at that time, just introduced the 95* series and quickly moved into 9spd after that. For performance i don't think there is much better, for a change like you have already said, boutique brands, but nothing would work as well, just look better/different.

 

[d8mok]

Drive chain wise it was pretty much a Shimano only world in that window - and XT/XTR was very good indeed. Suntour was pretty dead, ditto Mavic, Sachs and even Campag.

I feel like there was more in the way of options in some of the hidden components eg hubs, bottom brackets, brakes/levers.

So 2 builds I’m currently on with are my Dekerf and a 97 Zaskar

Dekerf I’ve gone with Raceface turbines on a Royce BB but ended up rest as M950 inc hubs

The Zaskar I have a spare M952 full group and either XTR hubs or Hadley.

I may go rigid on the dekerf too but they are still similar builds for the rest.

I keep considering Maguras but I hate them truly.

 

[mk one]

I think you could find a lot better hubs than the shimanos, brakes too, just the actual shifting components were ahead of other parts.