@Jesper gave you some great advice there
@Alfredo Jarvis - but I see you didn't even acknowledge his reply to your message!
On topic, I acquired a 1973 road frame, which was built by a classic English Framebuilder Youngs of Lewisham, South London and didn't want to fully restore it, I just wanted to build it and ride it as it is so unique and will also be 50 years old next year!
The 120mm spacing of the rear stays or Overlock Nut Distance (OLD) is something I wanted to preserve, rather than 'cold set' to 126mm (7 speed) or 130mm (8-upwards) so I built it as a single speed bike initially. This 120mm spacing was a constraint that led me to riding the bike as a single speed bike for over two years. However, I longed to use the Shimano 600 Arabesque parts that I had acquired (1978) to build it up as a friction-shifting 7-speed with a cassette on the rear hub and not a freewheel.
So this May, having acquired some wheelbuilding skills in a w/e workshop at RyanBuildsWheels in Bristol, UK I was advised by another UK wheel builder that there is a novel solution! So last month, I built a new wheelset with beautiful retro-looking silver alloy H&Son rims, laced to (modern looking and sounding) gloss black alloy BITEX hubs and silver Sapim Race double-butted spokes. New and old look great together and having road tested the wheels now, work well together. I think this solution presents readers with vintage frames with some modern wheel options, so wanted to share the details...
Specifically, this 7-11 speed wheelset was handbuilt with H & SON TB14 28 hole rims laced to Bitex (Rear) RAR8 (120mm OLD) and (Front) RAF12 (100mm OLD) hubs.
I would encourage anyone out there who owns a vintage bike to find strategies to keep it on the road and to continue to enjoy riding it?