Bike is pretty much finished by now. Took it for a spin today to see how it rides.
Still a pretty plush ride and quick to accelerate.

I ended up replacing the original brakes with silver Tektro CR710 and Koolstop pads. Good thing too because the plastic sleeves of the old ones were cracked which explained part of the lack of power and difficulty in setting them up.
Had to use thinlines for the front as the pad holders got stuck against the fork and were too thick.
But it wasn't the canti posts that was the problem, those were modern sizing. They were shorter than some other examples I have seen and the pads are just too far back.

New brakes work really well, they make the bike stop on a dime and even lifts the rear a little bit, though that might be because I'm too big for the bike.
Wailing like a banshee though.
I'll have to take a look at that later.

Stripped and polished the original rear kickstand as it was a little bit tattered with some corrosion on the aluminum here and there.

Still playing around with a few parts but for now;


(Saddle set to my height.)


New brakes


Polished kickstand