Went to the shop this morning, stared at the bike for a long time. Was hitting a mental roadblock of sorts. I don't think the front forks are bent, more like they are not lined up correctly. I was just trying to think about mounting the rear plate and plate light under the brake light, may have to fab my own part for that. Was also thinking of removing that rear bar that goes around the outer edge of the seat, but it is attached to the rear shocks, not sure if that would affect them as they would still be attached to the frame. I also envisioned removing the tachometer, and the center light post, as none of the lights on that work, my tach works just fine but im thinking just a speedo? Need to start looking for a new headlight, and I'll prolly mount the new turn signals on the stalks of the old ones, at least in the rear. Also would like to get exhaust extensions to flare them out to the side, so the straight exhaust does not just end where the muffler began.
So you could say I have a small vision for the bike, but nothing too crazy. Tank will stay stock, and so will the frame.
My roadblock was that I cannot start removing and cleaning up all the items on the bike until I reassemble with some newer parts in order to take it in to get the front aligned. Then I'd like to go straight exhaust, jet the carbs, and put on pod filters. I can then begin to clean up the frame, the engine, and every little part on it, while adding the new signals and headlight, new pegs, possibly a new seat too. But as far as making it too far off from the original, is really adding some aftermarket parts, and getting the bike restored. However, I'm still going to get some new bars and pegs.
My father suggested I just put the new parts on it that I need to make it rideable, then ride it next summer to see if I really want to put in the work on cleaning it up, but I'm not sure I want to have to be cleaning it up next summer when the riding gets good. I can still have the bike with the pods, jets and exhaust on it, but it would be still rusted over, yet rideable. I just don't want to get caught in the middle trying to clean it up when I could be riding it.