Funny you should mention this. That's actually what started me down this line of thinking. The Bianchi is built with 9-speed Daytona components. The branding on the shift levers and derailleurs are faded and rubbed off in places. That was OK because it matched the state of the paint. But earlier this week I bought a set of Daytona components in pristine condition. As I was thinking about what to do with them (yes, I bought them without a plan for how I'd use them) I thought they'd be nice on the Bianchi but then I'd need to get it repainted. They'd also work on the Serotta. The components currently on the Raleigh look pretty nice, but most of them are much newer than the frame. Pretty much only the shift levers and the headset are original at this point.

Yeah. I guess when there are tens of thousands of a certain bike you don't mind messing one of them up, but when there are only a few hundred you get more hesitant. Nevermind that if we all agreed to keep them original when they were young there would still be thousands of them later. Probably nostalgia plays a big role too.