Dura Ace late 80's advice please

I have a Raleigh SBDU frame from 1987 which I purchased new. Over the years it got upgraded with newer kit but now that I have a new road bike I'm interested in de-modernising (if there is such a word!) the Raleigh.

Originally it had a Dura Ace 7400 groupset but as I explore the mysteries of period Dura Ace it's gradually becoming obvious that the chainwheel / sprocket combination available then gave quite a bit higher lowest gear (if you see what I mean) than the 34/32 combination that I have on my new Bianchi. That was a deliberate choice because when it comes to the hills I use a pretty high cadence and am not inclined to turn (by my standards) a bigger gear.

In fact the Raleigh at the moment has a RSX triple chain wheel (which I think is later than 1987 with a 28 max sprocket). I deliberately fitted that as I was doing some hilly Audax type events at the time.

Given that I intend doing the Eroica Britannia next year, I'm just wondering whether going the Dura Ace route is that wise. Might I be best sticking with what I've got but fit downtube shifters, even though the drive chain isn't then strictly period to the frame? That might of course be heresy but I'd welcome some opinions - and, more particularly, advice about what else might be possible.

Thanks in anticipation.

Neil.

With regards to Eroica from my impressions last year they were more interested in your money than your bike no checks to see if it was pre 1987, the only ones paid attention to were the show and shine entries. If you want to go double chain ring look for a stronglite chainset (fits shimano BB) where you can run 36/48 chainrings or lower a good choice for DT shifters would be simplex retro friction. Also rethink the cassette/sprockets to give you a lower climbing gear. Save your money if you don't want a exact period rebuild.

Thanks Kingbling. I'll have a wee look round and see if I can track down some Stronglite stuff. It would be nice, though, to have it as an exact period rebuild. Perhaps the answer is more training (a lot more!) so I can turn the bigger gears! Any idea what the lowest combo I could achieve with Dura Ace is?

38 50 chainrings and probably 28 maybe 30 on the cassette which is what I run up in the lakes (so many hills :roll: ) Full period group sets are the mutts nuts but its never cheap especially top end shimano and campagnolo, but the bike will always have value and you'll never lose on it.

Buying individual shiny dura ace parts does get expensive though with postage costs etc. Try to find sellers with multiple items or full groups (hens teeth)