Ok, I just had to tear myself away from that bike so I can come in and get some sleep for work tomorrow. Damn, I wish I could call out and spend the whole day with her tomorrow but I think I can make it until 7pm.
I rode around tonight in the secluded roads of my area. The stretch is about 5 miles around or so. The shifting was more or less the same so instantly I felt right at home. The Kawi is much smoother operating the clutch or shifting than I expected and made the bike an absolute joy to ride.
I practiced braking, emergency and regular stops and this felt top notch as well. Very good feel and very confidence inspiring which can't hurt.
Mild leaning and counter-steering were a big part of my night and I concentrated most of my time here. The bike just flows with your thoughts almost and goes exactly where you are looking. Again, I felt right at home even though the dirtbikes steer much differently. In a way, the 6 feels a lot less awkward than the point and steer d-bikes. I'm pretty much in complete and total love with the bike at this point.
Power- obviously I'm not going to rev the bike with me being new to the scene and the bike having only 114 miles on it so I kept the revs mostly under 5500 with some short blips over 6500 here and there. It could use a little more balls down low but the midrange pull is strong and I'm sure it pulls harder and harder as the revs climb. With more miles, I'll break her in right.
Anyway, after about two hours of messing around out there, I am hooked and find myself wondering why I didn't do this sooner. Ahh, it was probably the right choice considering how I lacked maturity back then.
One question though, the bike manual calls for all kinds of grades of oil. Should I run 20/50 in there because of the wet clutch?