The one "modern" change that to my mind makes bikes look even cleaner was aero brake levers; hiding the cable. To me, that plus early '80s full length rear housing through braze-ons on top of the top tube was and is the way to run rear brakes. Clean, works really well. gives the rear brake power appropriate to go with the far more effective front, and allows picking the bike up and hanging it from racks with no paint scratching. All my customs get that treatment. (My Raleigh Competitoin got slightly different treatment. Original braze-ons are on the right and low for bare wire. I got my hands on two, not three, beautiful clips so I run the full housing down the top to the left for a very clean lead. Two clips/braze-ons on top won't take the snake out of the housing run.

Yes, DT shifters, clean levers and just one set of housings coming off the bars. Another plus of the old bikes that no one takes advantage of; frames for rear brakes without recessed bolts - you can turn the rear brake around. Now the adjust is to the drive side, just like the front brake. Makes working on the bike easier since now all the brake and derailleur adjusts are to the same side, no more walking around the stand to do the rear brake. Also the bike looks cleaner. And if you have a top center housing run, the lead is just as fair and shorter/cleaner looking, showing the seat cluster off better. (I've always like the really clean look of track bikes. Sadly, doing this "flip" with road fix gears doesn't work so well; the farther forward the brake pads are, the more the rim height changes as you slide the wheel to accommodate cog changes. I can just barely get by with no pad adjustment on my fix gear using any cog, 12 to 24 using a deep Velocity Aero rim. I like!)

Ben