That looks awesome. You are totally right about the colour - if someone suggested it to me I would probably have sneered but seeing it built, esp. with the tyres and grips, it looks amazing.
Very nice , dont mind the V brakes myself, how many early bikes would have been "upgraded" from canti's to V-brakes when the new fangled braking system was released, a Retro-Modification as far as i see it.
The rear mounted bin isn't period correct though, that look's like a 2007 part