Originally Posted by Kindaslow

Funny you mention Chris King. I am so sick of seeing his parts on bikes that I went with Hope hubs on my new bike. His parts are great, but I wanted something different. I run XT brakes on my commuter, because I want some extra movement before engagement (very long, steep and wet hills in which the XT are a better choice). But, for the MTB XTRs or Guide RSCs are worth every penny.

We will have to disagree about MTBs and bling, though. Luckily, we do not need to agree

I doubt I would regret full XTR or Dura Ace, I just make the choices based on what makes sense to me. For example, I have looked at Rolex watches for years. But, the difference between Rolex and Raymond Weil left about $5,000 in my investment account. That $5,000 will hopefully be $15,000 or more when I retire.