Negative ground is the way to go
I do wiring for Nortons and other brits when my friend has too much work, it's not what I do for a living, but I do a good job (well I think so )
Keep ip as simple as possible, draw it out on paper with what you need and where they will go. You can usually stuff most of the wiring connections and the flasher relay in the headlight shell. If you want something that work and don't mind not being original, a jap bike headlight switch on the left will control most anything, lights on-off, high beam, flashers and horn. There are aftermarket switches that are just as complete. If you have an electric start, a right hand control with engine cutoff and starter button will be needed. When you are satisfied of your wire placement, use a heat gun to shrink it in place (I don't use a torch like the guys on OCC)
I use heat shrinkable tubing instead of split tubing, first it will be smaller and it looks neater (black of course). Run one or two extra wires from the headlight shell to the battery compartment, they could be used if a wire breaks or you want to add something later on. With heat shrink tube, you can cut slits and take wires out where they will be needed (horn, points...).
As suggested, multiple fuses is a good idea, especially to keep the ignition circuit separate from the rest. Crimps are good, but make sure to use the proper sized connectors for the wires. Larger caliber wires will help reduce voltage drops, #14 for headlight and ignition as well as going to and from the ammeter, the rest (flashers, taillights, horn) can be done with #16 or #18. Use LEDs if you can for taillights and flashers, the stock alternator is not a powerhouse. Use #14 from the alternator to the rectifier and from there to the battery. Some suggest using a relay to give power to the coils, but if you use new components, I don't feel it is necessary.
You can do without the capacitor as long as you always have a battery. You can also remove the charge indicator and the relay that controls it. I would also take off the ampmeter, running wires from the front to the back of the bike withh all the current going through it is asking for trouble, leave it in place for the looks only. There are modern rectifier / regulators available like the Podtronics, use those, not only will they perform better, they keep the wiring simpler. You can get a good main swith with a key from just about any auto parts store. You can do all your wiring with black wires (did that on an Indian Scout, they didn't have any colored wires back then), but it is better to use different colors to avoid frying something.
Jean
Oh, even a motorcycle battery will fry a #14 wire in seconds, so be carefull where everything get connected.
