"I'm still making up my mind if I think this is being retro just for
retro sake. The fact is a LOT of people are doing 1983 Stumpjumper
restorations and loving them. So those bikes still work. Why not make a
new bike that acknowledges that those bikes got several things right?"
I'm a little confused by what you mean here, but I think you're having a rhetorical discussion with yourself?
If so, um, your right. Those old bikes got several things right. Making something that takes the best aspects of them is, in fact, the opposite of retro for retro sake. It's retro with a reason.
FWIW, I think the bike needs more cow-bell. (ie. bull moose bars ;-)
Regards,
-Allan