I also posted this over at CR, so apologies to those of you who are seeing it twice. I am a newbie to the world of vintage bikes and biking in general. I am working on 2-3 projects right now and I find myself sticking to recreating the builds as close to original specs as I can. All along the way, I keep saying to myself that eventually I will find a light vintage steel frame that I am not concerned about preserving it's original patina, get it powder coated, and put whatever parts on it I think will be most comfortable, cost-conscious, and practical for me. For example, vintage Japanese derailleurs instead of Campy, a Nitto Technonomic stem and Noodle bars, etc. Therefore, I find myself questioning why I don't just set out and build the latter kind of bike as I don't have the garage space, the desire, or the kind of wife that will allow me to have a ton of bikes.

I am sure that many of you have dealt with this in your builds. The tension between recreating something back to its original glory and the desire to have a bike that truly conforms to what you want from it. Maybe sometimes that is the same thing depending on what your goal is for the bike. I would love to hear some perspectives on this, thanks.