A lot of my generation (millennials) seem to be content to scratch the Cromoly itch by riding neo-retro stuff (Surly, All City, Velo Orange, Wabi, etc.) for their actual riding bikes over getting into the whole vintage thing. I think it comes down to indexed shifting, brifters, 'Vertically Compliant, Laterally Stiff' marketing, disc brake marketing, cassettes/freehubs, The French, cartridge bearing components (perhaps an incorrect addition to the list since modern road bikes are sinfully complicated/tedious to setup)...And probably simple as never having had a chance to ride a well set-up high quality road bike with modern tires.

For those who lean C&V, I've noticed that Steel is more important than the existence of lugs, traditional tubing diameters, or a horizontal top tube. I also think some it comes down my generation not doing as much road riding, we grew up on mountain bikes or BMX bikes rather than bikes meant for the street. And that since we're younger we're still a bit unnecessarily competitive and may believe that one needs to own a modern style road bike to ride on the road at a 'performance level' (whatever that means...), or at the very least a bike that isn't 35+ years old. Thus, less interest in C&V where the vast majority of high quality bikes are road racing bikes.