Welcome aboard, Julian! Sounds like you will like the Classic & Vintage forum and the Early Brifter Bikes forum. C&V is primarily restorers who like downtube shifters, etc. but there some regulars like me who enjoy resto-mods of older frames. You can also pick up some good information on older bikes and bikes in general because there are a lot of smart people who are regulars. Here is one of my projects, a 1986 Schwinn Peloton set up with SRAM 10 speed.
John
PS My wife's family is from Canada so I am not wanting to invade you.