I appreciate the thoughts on my crank conundrum and gearing possibilities. As to geometry, I posed the 1974 Professional and 1974 Competition together - close cousins, certainly. Oddly, with the bonus 1974 Super Course, I now feel a compulsion to find a 1974 International to complete the basic set.

That photo also shows clearly the gear-range workaround I managed on the Competition. That's a pretty huge drop in chainring size, but the long cage Jubilee RD takes it easily.

The frame, even with it's imperfections and a small dent on the top tube, looks pretty in the sunshine! Most of these flaws will end up hidden by the cable and clamps that caused them. I neutralized the existing rust and buried it under carnauba wax, which should keep things clean for now. I also sprayed the inside of the top tube with TriFlow, just in case. Will that be useful in preventing future rust, or should I invest in Frame Savers?

I'm close to talking myself into a wheel building project ... it can be kind of a Zen exercise, but also frustrating for those of us who don't do it often.