Originally Posted by europa

I used to think that way, which is why I specified a quill when I commissioned my Hillbrick.
Then I discovered I couldn't get the bars I wanted ... then I discovered oversized bars with the modern shapes and soon found a set of bars with a lovely, sexy curve and very comfortable places to put my hands.
I'm probably as big a retro grouch as the next man ( okay, worse than that ) but function comes before form and my classically inspired custom build wears an adaptor, modern neck and modern oversized bars.

I'm not putting down the traditional bends I still love them but, the modern setups offer some good alternatives. Mind you, as I found, if your frame has a threaded head, you can use either quills or the modern stuff ( via the adaptor).