Let's keep it civil. The 690 is an unconventional bike that can be altered to better suit almost any purpose.
Whether you wanna chop it down to a single track weapon, or pad it out into a long range RTW bike, that's cool. I'm curious to see both bikes.
QuantumParadise is the OP on this thread, so he gets a bit of latitude here; if he thinks the discussion is getting off topic, it's his prerogative to shepherd us cats back to the original question. So let's not belabor the point.
The 690 is an eccentric bike, one that attracts eccentric people. There is no right or wrong way. If you think something's ugly, sound off! This is a FORUM after all, but please, be respectful.