Elegant-Apparatus, you might have heard of it, or seen it at least. A Tumblr and Instagram feed that'll either inspire you to get out there and do more of what you enjoy, or affirm that your job and life sucks and that some people are just doing it better. Brothers Facundo and Guillermo Falcó, both dental surgeons from Barcelona, have been populating these photgraphy-centric media streams with gasoline and surf culture for a few years but more recently branched out and decided to commit some of their passion to metal. The first bike, a Honda XR600 scrambler was well received on social media and encouraged them to take a bolder step with the second. The guys might spend their days with their hands in people's mouths but have been up top their elbows in motorcycles and cars for as long as they dare to remember. A skill and an obsession passed down from their parents. This 1973 Benelli Tornado 650S was found in pretty good condition but with the front end missing. The price though was right and the donor would make for a much more exotic, and frankly more interesting, project than a mainstay, mass produced Japanese machine. 30 years prior an Italian scrap yard broke a Tornado and Guillermo had the foresight to buy the front end and stick on a shelf for a rainy day. The gorgeously engineered brake drum with its purposeful cooling fins would have stood out amongst the mass produced and cheapo castings from the seventies. Looking at the photos it wouldn't be too unfair to say, unless you're a classic bike buff, that the guys simply slipped the front end in and voilá- job done. The cohesive overall finish is testament to their eye for detail, nothing looks out of place. Where tweaks have been made they're subtle and a definite improvement. The stainless exhausts (homemade) for example follow tighter to the frame and the silencers are more upswept giving a sense of sportiness. And we're informed that the soundtrack is a raucous one, typically Italian. The full length seat and subframe give the illusion of being stock, but are in fact new additions, with removable pillion peg brackets, positioned higher to cater for the pipes but also for a more spirited passenger experience. The clipons were made in-house from stainless steel tube and fitted with internally wired micro switchgear. The stock top clamp is chunky and looks great with a fabricated plate to cover the original bar mounts. The speedo though is a modern all-in-one digital/analog type by Koso. Understated fabrication continues throughout, front and rear fenders were hand rolled from alloy and polished. There's a cunning mechanism for the all-new saddle and the footpegs are modern, mounted to modified brackets. The classic seventies colour scheme of wine metallic over ivory sets-off the Benelli perfectly, complimented by brown upholstery and original, full scale tail light. The restomod term was coined a while back and as we're seeing evermore radical attempts to build standout show-stoppers perhaps this is the route to turning rare barn finds into useable, everyday classic customs, rather than museum pieces or exhibits at the more traditional chrome polishing and chassis number comparison gatherings (some bike shows). Elegant Apparatus is well worth following on Instagram | Tumblr | Facebook