All - thank you for the replies.
jamesdak - those are amazing bikes, and surprisingly very light. Thank you for the input. Aiming a bit towards more comfort, but I do appreciate old. Steel - I have a 90s Bianchi Pista (heavy steel tange tubing), but it's fun and rides very smooth. I get very fast on it.
mercator I also did come across this, the grey color scheme is what I like more. This seems like a good purchase for a frameset honestly. Light and decent, made by a reputable producer.
onyerleft I am heavily considering BD for a motobecane roadie, but looks like the tire clearance on the road frame with caliper brakes is only 25mm, i'm trying to run 28's at least.
mstateglfr - thank you for that suggestion. This really seems like good value for how much bike you're getting. Will take Ribble seriously, just trying to find out how much these things weigh as it is not specified.
Actually there is only one custom steel bike builder unless you have one living within a mile of your home (surprisingly, many people do):
The is Waterford Precision. These are the people that built the Waterford Schwinn Paramount that was used by the old Schwinn factory racing team. After Schwinn dropped out, the team decided to make their own name bikes.
https://waterfordbikes.com These bikes are custom fitted and custom made for any and every demand from arabesque lugged touring models to spectacularly light TIG welded custom tubing road racing bikes that are at the UCI minimum weight with a set of DuraAce Di2 mounted and a good set of wheels.
I have seen many of these and am bowled over with their sheer quality and detail.