I think the Renaissance has already begun.
With the crappy, wet but relatively warm weather here, I've been riding my wife's ATB to keep active, and then decided I should buy my own ATB. But then I couldn't do it, partly because new bikes don't interest me as much as old bikes, and also I've been a road bike person for too long.
So I decided that my next project would be a cyclocross bike (best of both worlds). With vintage cyclocross frames being such an expensive rarity, I started looking around and found traditional steel cyclocross frames still being made by Bianchi, Surly, Waterford and Independent Fabrication, to name just a few. So I think I will end up buying a new frame and building a "neo-retro" cyclocross bike (non-aero brakes levers, old-style cloth bar tape, and as many traditional components as possible). The hot crank setup for cyclocross nowadays is a Shimano crank with traditional French T.A. cyclocross chainrings, which are still being manufactured.
It should be fun. I love new projects, especially when they involve skinny-tubed steel frames.
Herb Langston
Evanston, IL