The bike pictured by the OP is mine and I debated about some of the same things last summer when I built it. I am sure some of the C&V folks will cringe, but I removed pretty much all the original parts and put them away in storage for safe keeping, and built the frame and fork up with more modern parts that I felt were better for riding it. My Alloro has Shimano 600 everything with STI brifters, deraillers, crankset, seatpost, etc. It has Bontrager Race Lite wheels and since my budget was limited I have been riding on some cheapo Michelin tires and some free Celeste tape that was given to me by a shop I stopped at when trying to decide colors. I just swapped out the vintage Flite ti seat for a Flite TransAm with the cutuout. I don't have a current pic showing the new seat and wheels, but here is one from last summer...