>>1719081Yes and no.
I enjoy restoring them to 'good shape,' and admit they're technically usable in dry conditions, and even very enjoyable to ride. Overall I found them to be superior in a lot of ways (comfort, ride position), especially while my back was recovering from a surgery (tumor removal).
They're amazingly beautiful bikes, and somehow the vintage hi-tensile steel frames are lighter and seemingly stronger than the modern Chinese branded chromoly. Love the look of lugs, too, and if you do inflation calculator, you'll see they never were much more expensive than Chinese/Taiwanese-made bikes, which is nifty.
Some of them include lots of neat features that are long-since absent (e.g., fork locks, fenders with light-mounts), even though we've since made adaptations to make these innovations even more practical (LEDs, capacitors with stand-light capabilities).
I've learned to accept them as they are in some ways, because while some upgrades (LED bulbs in bottle dynamo lights, or carbon seatposts), when I lace up new alloy rims to the hubs, for example, somehow some of the ride quality goes to hell, even though the braking's now much better.
So, mixed bag OP. Comfort, style, beauty. Bit of a pain sometimes finding what is and isn't interchangeable (e.g., bottom brackets, cranks, 27" to 700c sometimes works, sometimes the brake arms won't reach, and then the super-long brake arms just flex instead of stopping you). It's a great life lesson, though, to learn that 'not all things go as planned,' and to simply accept things sometimes as they are.
