The late
Ken Kifer wrote, 'T
he bike shop owner tried to persuade me that my bike was no longer worth keeping up (his bill would have bought a decent machine). He gave me a nice catalog full of beautiful bikes. It was time to let the old bike go. He asked me if there was anything
that my old bike had that a newer bike wouldn't, and I said, "memories." '
I'm fortunate - the manager of my favorite LBS will call me for information on C&V bikes, and has acquired a couple himself. The other LBS, while they carry nothing of interest to me, can at least feign interest in lugged steel when they see it. When I was part of the really active cycling scene here, other riders figured out I was someone to ride with despite having either friction shifters on the downtube or even no shifters at all and a fixed rear cog.
I think there are at most really three important things to think about when choosing a bike. First, does it work? That covers all the things like safety and mechanical condition and gear-changing if there are variable gears, brakes, all that stuff. Not - is it latest greatest, but does it work? Then, does it fit? And again, not whatever the latest whiz-bang FitKit contemporary fad position, but does it fit your individual body as a cyclist in a way that perhaps conforms to more than a century of chain-driven bicycles. And finally, the really subjective one, do you like it? Does it make you smile? Do you ever have those alternating moments of the bike disappearing under you and effortlessly going down the road, then being acutely aware of what an awesome bike you are on at that very instant? Sometimes even the humblest old bike can provide that moment. I remember the late Richard Ballentine writing about how his "greatest, happiest tour was on a 1935 B.S.A. that shed its vital parts like water." That I can quote that line 45 years after reading it gives an idea of its value.
It sounds to me like you have a bike that you love and have history with. I'd say you're the winner here.