My wife and I are thinking of doing a fairly long tour (Montréal-NYC via Adirondacks and Hudson Valley, unsupported, but no camping gear). We're mostly city bikers, but we've done a couple of longer tours before (8 days in Tuscany, unsupported, on rented hybrid bikes; end-to-end on Prince Edward Island on mountain bikes, when we were young and silly). We don't currently have bikes that seem quite appropriate, and are weighing our options. I'm curious to think about what other people think.

• Option 1: Build up a frame we've got. I've got a 1984 Peugeot P-series that's a flatland daily commuter, with moustache bars and pretty high gears. The frame fits great, but I'd need to give it a triple crankset, which would probably require a new BB and FD, plus a lower-geared freewheel and probably RD. Probably drop bars and brake levers, too. I've also got a 1972-ish Raleigh International frame and fork, which would need all of the above (but would let me keep my commuter as-is). My wife rides my mom's 1961/2 Atala, which would need the same stuff. All this could get pricey and difficult, and might be taking my mechanical skills to their limits, which I'm not sure I want to find out about on the open road.
• Option 2: Buy new bikes. Sure would be easy. We test-rode Surly Long Haul Truckers and liked them. Still, $1200 each seems like a lot to a guy who never spends more than $150 on a bike. Are there other options in that category I'm not aware of? I saw the Nashbar steel touring bike, but I'm hesitant to buy from the Internet sight-unseen.
• Option 3: Buy complete vintage bikes. We're probably not going to do this 'til summer 2014, so we've got time. But we do want reliable bikes that won't strand us, and we definitely want triple cranksets. Your thoughts?

What do you think of the pros and cons, here?