Honestly,
in the crowd I used to hang out with (Prairie Cycle Club in the midwest, specifically in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois), in the mid 70's you would go to a ride and people would 'size you up' .... :
- if you had japanese parts, you were an intelligent thoughtful and well-read cyclist (Bicycling!)
- if you had campagnolo nuovo record parts or better, you were a snob.
- if you had french parts, you weren't mechanically inclined enough to be able to change over to japanese parts ...
so you had to watch what signals you were sending by riding with french or high-end italian parts !!!
- Don Gillies (who has french, japanese, & italian - drivetrain bikes) San Diego, CA, USA