First, let me say that I'm overwhelmed by the honor of having my little effort nominated in to such stellar company!
And, obviously, I accept.
All the nitty-gritty details are in my build thread
here, and I'll just add a couple of pictures and comments to flesh it out.
I bought a new TX650A in 1974, rode it for several years, and sold it as I moved on to other bikes. Never quite found another bike that fit me like that TX did.
35 years later, the urge to have another 650 got the best of me and I started cruising Craigslist and the local penny trader and finally came up with a '79 Special that met my mechanical and fiscal requirements.
In running condition, 11xxx miles and not all chopped to pieces by some 16 year old wannabe. Ugly, but worth saving.
Here it is as of today. Essentially done mechanically with all the usual wear parts replaced and I put another 1500 miles on it this Summer. It's basically stock with a couple of upgrades:
1. PAMCO ignition. Wonderful, WONDERFUL stuff, that PAMCO.
2. Mike's Superbike Bars. Those awful stock Special bars hurt my wrists just looking at them.
3. Braided Stainless Brake Lines. 30+ year old rubber lines did NOT fill me with confidence.
4. Retro Tank Badges. The big honkin' plastic badges that were stock were just fugly.
5. New fuse block and blade fuses.
6. Voltmeter. New brushes and some buffing and tightening of wiring connections restored my charging system to full operation, but I've been had by Murphy often enough that I like to keep an eye on things.
7. The usual superfluous electronics (signal canceler, reserve lighting unit) removed.
8. Warning light cluster removed and blinker indicator replaced with an LED.
It's not world class gorgeous like the other nominations because I'm too lazy to buff and wax, and I'd rather ride anyway...
As finances permit, I will have the tins bumped and painted, do the Minton mods on the forks, put new shocks on the rear, find a new (stock) front fender (mine was creased in a crash at some point), have the seat re-upholstered to get rid of that step and get some softer foam on it. For sure the engine will will be treated to a head re-torque this winter.