Holy crap, you guys. This thing is just slapstick hilarious. It's so light and tossable and begs to be leaned over. I was expecting something akin to an SV1000 or Monster S2R, but what I got was surprisingly more supermoto than standard bike. It has just silly torque all over the place, in any gear, any speed, and any RPM- even down to 1500 RPM. 5th gear passes at 40 MPH? No problem! Drop it to second and whack the throttle open if you want to look at the clouds.
Around town, it's as light as a 600, and partial throttle shifts at around 4000 RPM make it bark like the anti-lag on a rally car. Below 4000 RPM, there is no engine vibration at all. I was putting up Ogden Canyon at 40 MPH in 5th gear at about 2000 RPM, and it felt like an electric bike. Above 4K, it starts to get a bit buzzy, but still not as bad as an inline.
Did I mention the torque? It's everywhere all up in your face, going through your phone and texting all your riding buddies asking, "'sup with your tiny engine, bro?!?"
It does need a steering stabilizer. The slight reduction in rake compared to stock combined with over eager inputs on the wide bars (so much leverage!), has it shaking once in a while. It never felt unstable, but I did begin to roll off at about 117 MPH.
You guys were telling me early on that my legs would be roasting from the engine being out in the open and the headers being exposed, but my legs actually felt cooler on this than my RC51. Go figure.
At first, I kept downshifting and looking for 6th, but as I got used to the torque (have I mentioned it's meaty like Chef Boyardee?) and the power delivery, I began shifting less. 4th and 5th gear are all you need for anything above 40 MPH. It's just silly.
I didn't push it too hard through the turns because the rear suspension is stock and made for way more weight than this thing is packing, but it really likes to turn. The front end felt planted and pretty solid at all phases of riding, and the brakes are what you'd expect from a GSXR600. I could feel the front and rear fighting each other, though. A softer rear spring is waiting for me at a local shop.
There is more work to be done. It's rideable, but there are lots of details yet to be polished. This winter, it'll get taken all back apart for paint and powder coat. In the 75-ish miles I rode it today, it exceeded my expectations by a significant margin. The suspension needs to be sorted, mainly, and I think a Bazzaz could help further smooth things out. Otherwise, this thing is so ridiculous.
:-D