That 18" front rim is a great idea to get some of the rake out of this front end. My optimistic mind see's this project working out well. If that becomes a reality, it will be worth upgrading lots of extra things including going to aluminum rims. At that time, I could go to the shorter spacers or maybe new triple trees and forks altogether.
As for the seat, I'm looking at taking a seat from a bonneville and shortening it like this bike I saw at the Barber Vintage Bike show in Birmingham this summer. THAT was a great place to find inspiration. I saw trucinduc's bike there too...cool ride. Here is the idea...
For the pegs and shifter/brake, I'm planning on ordering a "rear set" kit from Ryca. If you notice the mounting point is not very far back and I believe that it could be moved forward a bit more. My tank is about 2-4 inches longer than the stock tank and the bonneville seat is MUCH longer than the savage seat. I'm sort of shooting from the hip, but after I legnthen the swing arm 1-2" (the new tire fits but leaves almost no room for adjustment at 26.5"), I think all of this will come together. I'll try to get some mock up pics of the new tank and a 2 foot level I've been using to simulate the seat length and angle.
engineer wrote on 03/15/11 at 13:58:39:Like the idea. Please keep posting I would like to see the progress on this project. Somebody here mentioned re-lacing his front wheel with an 18 inch rim vs. the stock 19 inch rim. I see new tires in the pics so maybe you are committed to those rims but to me it makes sense to go with a smaller front rim to help pitch the angle of the bike forward to reduce rake. That way you might be able to put a 1 1/2 inch spacer in the front suspension instead of the usual 2 inch spacer and save some of that fork travel. If you do any dirt riding you might want that travel. But maybe you are already past that point on your build.
The straight top seat will get you some height so you can move the pegs back. How about the pegs? How and where do you plan to mount them and deal with the shifter etc? I would like to know how people are dealing with that problem. There isn't a whole lot of space on that frame. I see you got some help on that project. Including your kids is a great thing to do.