Thanks for the feedback on the brake hose guys. I feel a lot more confident about it, knowing others have run it in similar fashion before.
I wondered about taking the hose out of that wire clamp, and adjusting the connection bolt at the brake lever as suggested. I'll give that a go and see if I can get a better looking sweep - I couldn't possibly make it look any worse!
I rode to and from work today. Just a short trip but enough to tell how the risers change the ride. It does exactly what I hoped, and more. The riding position feels great and that bit of annoying softness/movement in the tall risers is gone. Also the mirror position has gotten even better. I love how they change the look of the bike too.
I had been thinking about getting some of Ed.L's forward controls but decided to wait until the handlebars were finished (sage advice from the guy at the bike shop who sold me the handlebars - "Change one thing at a time"). I'm glad I waited. I think, in the position I sit with these bars, the foot peg position is just about spot on (I have short legs for my height). I have a couple of longer rides coming up in the next couple of weeks, so time will tell.
Next will be the suspension. I've been researching that here on the forum. That would be Progressive shocks on the back. As for the front, I'm sure I read a comment somewhere (by Batman, I think) that said it's possible to use the method linked below, but recalculated so as not to shorten the forks:
Fork & Shock Improvements for Café Conversions -
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1421689358I'm still reading up on that